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136. Blood Kinship
Hanging up the phone, when Su Yi Cheng turned around he saw that An Ran was watching him. She was puzzled, and asked, “What happened?”
He did not want to worry her, so he shook his head and smiled at her, only said, “It’s nothing.”
He didn’t want to say, so An Ran didn’t ask, and just assumed that it was something related to his work.
An Ran felt that Su Yi Cheng had become a little strange this past week. He came home early, but there was still a lot of work, basically when he came home he’d go into the studio, and when he ate he’d hurry to eat.
An Ran still had morning sickness, however these past few days it seemed to calm down a bit, the number of times she threw up gradually went down. Auntie Zhang joked that it was because of Su Yi Cheng, because Su Yi Cheng came home to eat, seeing him, she even started to throw up less.
An Ran sometimes at night would be in his arms, and say that the ‘little sweetheart’ in her belly must have been the love of his life in a past life, as every time she has a meal with him, not only was the food especially fragrant, don’t even talk about vomiting, her appetite improved greatly, and she ate much more than usual. Every time he heard her say that, Su Yi Cheng would always laugh, then reach out and rub her belly, sometimes he would even put his ears against her stomach, speak with a low voice and would whisper to the little baby, but those whispers would fall on An Ran’s ears too, saying that if the little darling is obedient in there, then when she comes out he would bring her to many fun places, and eat lots of delicious food.
An Ran jeered and asked him if he would even have the time? His face would turn serious and he would turned to look at her, and said that even if he was busy he would still have time for his daughter!
This weekend Su Yi Cheng did not go to office, but instead brought the work back home, and treated his studio as an office the entire day. The phone did not stop ringing all day.
An Ran aimlessly watched some traveling channel program in the living room. They were showing a beautiful scenery, the city that they were introducing, was France’s Lyon, a place that An Ran had always wanted to go.
Lyon is a historically famous city, it has a lot of architecture from the Middle Ages. An Ran was always passionate when looking at those buildings. In fact, ever since she was a student she had wanted to travel there and look at them, she liked the architecture from that period, however she never had the chance to go.
Suddenly the doorbell started to ring, An Ran was so entranced by the cathedral on TV that she could not take her eyes off of it, was fixed on the television, and could not turn her head back. It was Auntie Zhang who was cleaning in the kitchen that went to open the door.
“Who are you looking for?” Auntie Zhang asked the man standing at the door.
“Is An Ran there?” The man looked at Auntie Zhang, looking a little nervous. He stretched his neck and tried to look inside, and happened to see An Ran sitting on the sofa hugging a pillow, dazed while watching TV. He raised his voice and yelled, “An Ran, An Ran!”
An Ran then returned to her senses, turned to look, but couldn’t see who was at the door as her view was blocked by Auntie Zhang, but the voice was somewhat familiar to her.
An Ran put down the pillow, got up, and walked over to the door, at the same time asked, “Auntie Zhang, who is it?”
Auntie Zhang leaned to the side, turned to look at An Ran, “Madam, it’s for you.”
As Auntie Zhang leaned to the side An Ran was then able to see the man at the door. She paused her footsteps, taken aback, a little surprised. The person standing at the door was none other than Tong Wen Hai.
Tong Wen Hai saw An Ran, a little happy and glad, pushed Auntie Zhang aside and let himself in. He did not even take off his shoes, and took large strides until he was in front of An Ran. He looked at An Ran, he was smiling, “Ran, Ran Ran.” He reached out to pull on An Ran’s hand.
An Ran subconsciously pulled back. She looked at him, her expression somewhat cold. After a while she just faintly said, “May I ask, is there something?”
Tong Wen Hai sensed An Ran’s coldness, the hand that was stretched out to take her hand could only withdraw in embarrassment. He looked at her, the expression on his face seemed to be truly ashamed, he was somewhat embarrassed, and said, “Ran Ran, actually I…. Actually, I….” He wanted to say something, but seemed to be having trouble putting the words together.
An Ran frowned, and just said, “Bureau chief Tong, please leave, my house does not welcome you.” She still remembered those words that he had said to her that day at the restaurant, she does not want to hear him point fingers and criticize her again.
Tong Wen hai knew that she was still bothered by him because of that last incident, he quickly explained, “Ran Ran, last time was my fault, I did not know that you were pregnant. If I knew, I wouldn’t have said those words, really.”
An Ran smiled coldly, turned to look at him, and asked, “It doesn’t matter whether I’m pregnant or not, what qualifications do you have to say those things to me?”
“Yes yes yes, I was bad, I did not have the whole picture, if you want to blame someone blame Mo Fei, he clearly married Xiao Jie yet he---”
Tong Wen Hai was not finished, but was interrupted by An Ran’s cold voice, “Enough. I don’t want to hear your family problems, that has nothing to do with me. I don’t want to hear, and I don’t want to know.”
“Sure sure sure, I won’t talk about them.” He gave in to her, Tong Wen Hai wanted to go along with her as much as possible, did not dare to upset her.
He was truly at his wit’s end. He had thought that no one knew about the demolition funds, if they investigated they wouldn’t come after his head. At first this incident was handed to him by Ling Chuan Jiang, and a large part of the funds had been taken away by Ling Chuan Jiang, but who would have known that the villagers would make so much noise because of the money, and even alarmed Su Yi Cheng who specially came to scene. Even more, who would have thought that Ling Chuan Jiang would have this mishap at this time, and recently the disciplinary inspection commission tightened up their anticorruption policies, this time Ling Chuan Jiang’s incident pulled up a lot of people, recently Yan Li was even slowly investigating his side, touching the threads of the demolition funds. He estimates that they’ll come to him very soon, he heard that several corporation executives have already been asked to co-operate with investigations. Huang De Xing was among one of them.
“I have nothing to say to you Bureau Chief Tong.” An Ran spoke, and did not look at him, just turned around to Auntie Zhang and said, “Auntie Zhang, please help see this visitor out.” She went back inside. She does not want to see this person, instinctively rejected him.
Auntie Zhang nodded. She looked at Tong Wen Hai, and just said, “Please leave.”
Tong Wen Hai did not look at her at all, just stared at An Ran. Seeing that she wanted to leave, he quickly stepped forward and pulled on An Ran’s hand, “Ran Ran, please ask Su Yi Cheng for me, tell him not to continue with the investigation, okay? Ran Ran, you don’t want to see me in prison do you, after all, I am---”
“Tong Wen Hai!” Not waiting for Tong Wen Hai to finish his sentence, a shout came out from behind, their tone was penetrating, even more, furious.
Unknown as to when Lin Xiao Fen had arrived, the elevator door hadn’t closed yet, she directly ran over. Her eyes were red, her hair was also disheveled. From behind, Gu Heng Wen followed closely behind her. Because they were running, the two seemed to be quite tired.
An Ran stared at her parents in shock, then looked at Tong Wen Hai, not understanding what on earth was happening right now.
Su Yi Cheng was also alerted by the disturbance outside. He hadn’t taken off his golden spectacles yet, and just came out of the studio. He saw Tong Wen Hai, and his brows furrowed even further.
He walked over towards An Ran and supported her from behind. He saw that Tong Wen Hai had grabbed her hand so hard that it had become red, and his displeasure deepened even more. He reached out and grabbed Tong Wen Hai’s hand, one push, and forced Tong Wen Hai to release An Ran’s hand.
“Ah!” Tong Wen Hai let go of An Ran’s hand out of pain, then realized that Su Yi Cheng had already came out. He did not care about Lin Xiao Fen and Gu Heng Wen behind him, and just looked at Su Yi Cheng and said, “Deputy Mayor Su, Yi Cheng, you are also at home, that’s very good!”
Su Yi Cheng drew An Ran into his embrace, his eyes still on him, he asked expressionlessly, “Bureau Chief Tong, what are you trying to do here?”
“Yi Cheng, I will take out all the demolition money, please do not look into the matter any further, how about that!” Tong Wen Hai looked at him with anticipation. Now some words have nothing to hide, actually now that he made this step today, everyone knew what the intention was. It would be extremely bad for him to hide anything, might as well reveal everything, ask him to forgive him once, no matter how the relationship between him and An Ran are, Su Yi Cheng would not be unwilling to give him face.
Su Yi Cheng snorted coldly, and said, “Bureau Chief Tong, you are really funny. I am not the one who has the final say to the investigation, I am not the discipline inspection commission nor an officer, you should already know that Bureau Chief Tong.”
“Hehe.” Tong Wen Hai forced a laugh, looked at him, and said somewhat flatteringly, “You can certainly find methods.”
“Why should I help you?” Su Yi Cheng countered. Why would he help him, he has neither the duty nor the obligation!
Asking for what reason, Tong Wen Hai seemed to have too much confidence. He looked at him and said, “Why wouldn’t you help me, don’t you know me, I am Ran Ran’s---”
“Tong Wen Hai, don’t you dare, don’t you dare say….” Lin Xiao Fen seemed to go mad and stepped forward, grabbed onto Tong Wen Hai and started to ruthlessly hit him, as she hit him she said, “You bastard, you better not say it, you better not say it!” Her tears could not be contained and fell as she hit him. From the side Gu Heng Wen did not move, and simply watched her, his two hands balled into a fist, as if he were holding in his anger.
An Ran half leaned into Su Yi Cheng, she was completely speechless, but her body couldn’t stop trembling. Her teeth was biting tightly into her lips, and held onto Su Yi Cheng’s hand so tightly that it was hurting him, while she did not notice it at all.
Su Yi Cheng looked at An Ran worriedly, reached out and patted her hand.
And the most clueless one of all was Auntie Zhang, she did not understand what on earth is going on right now! It was such a mess.
“Enough!” Tong Wen Hai was aggravated by the hits, he pushed away Lin Xiao Fen.
Lin Xiao Fen lost her footing, and almost hit the floor, luckily Gu Heng Wen was quick, and caught her. He glared at Tong Wen Hai, and howled at him, “Tong Wen Hai, what are you trying to do!”
Tong Wen Hai knew that he was in the wrong, and looked away. A while later, does he finally say, “I know I have wronged you mother and daughter, but after all I am still An Ran’s---”
“You shut your mouth!” This time it was not Lin Xiao Fen who spoke up, but An Ran!
Everyone turned to look at An Ran, only to see her push Su Yi Cheng away. Her mouth was closed tightly, with tight fists she walked over to Tong Wen Hai. She stared at him, and said, “You shut up!”
Tong Wen Hai looked at her, somewhat scared by An Ran. He stumbled for words, “Ran, Ran Ran….”
“Do not call me that, it just makes me sick that you call me that! You so casually calling my name!” An Ran bit out each and every word, her two hands balled into a fist to control her emotions.
“I, I am your---” Tong Wen Hai started to speak, wanting to explain.
“Shut up!” An Ran roared at him, somewhat madly.
“Ran Ran….” Lin Xiao Fen and Gu Heng Wen were looking at her with concern.
Su Yi Cheng was also uneasy, and stepped forward to hold An Ran, but she pushed him away.
An Ran stared hard at Tong Wen Hai, somewhat gnashing her teeth as she said, “Don’t you say it!
Su Yi Cheng looked at her, his heart skipped a beat, when he suddenly realized that An Ran had already known something.
An Ran closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then opened her eyes to look at him and said, “Please leave, our family does not welcome you. Whether dead or alive, all have nothing to do with us, do not say that we can help, even if Yi Cheng can help you I will not let him help you! If you don’t want to be investigated, don’t do so much unethical things!
Upon hearing that, Tong Wen Hai looked at her, put on a deceiving smile and shook his head, only said, “No, that is because you do not know who I am, if you knew my relationship with you, you would not be like this!”
“You are a stranger to me, nothing!” An Ran said, then turned her head to look away from him.
Tong Wen Hai shook his head and said, “No, but, actually, I had a relationship with your mother, and you were---”
At the same time---
“—Shut up, Tong Wen Hai, you shut up!” Lin Xiao Fen yelled out, rushed over and tired to cover his mouth.
“Shut up, don’t you say it!” An Ran roared at him too, her emotions were somewhat out of control.
But—
“I’ve dated your mother, you’re my daughter, you’re my own daughter!” Tong Wen Hai said it at the same time as they were crying out, uttering his relationship with An Ran, and also uttered the secret that Lin Xiao Fen and Gu Heng Wen had been clinging onto for 29 years without daring to say it. Everything then quieted down, no one dared to speak. An Ran stared blankly at Tong Wen Hai, her teeth clenched into her lips, so much that it drew out blood.
Lin Xiao Fen slumped down to the ground, her strength had drained out. Behind, Gu Heng Wen hurriedly ran to her side, and held her up by the arms.
Su Yi Cheng glared fiercely at Tong Wen Hai, his eyes were burning with flames of anger!
Auntie Zhang was stunned silly, she could only stare on blankly, in disbelief.
The first to react was Tong Wen Hai, completely unaware of everything. He smiled remorsefully at An Ran, reached out to pull her hand, and confessed to her, “But, sorry, father did not know that you existed. At that time father was not good, I did not know your mother was pregnant, when we were apart, I had no idea that I had such a beautiful and intelligent daughter. Until before, until a few months ago after we met, I only knew later that I actually have such a wonderful daughter!”
Tong Wen Hai said his speech, his expression very moved. Watching her, he continued, “I know you hate dad, blame dad, I also know it’s all my fault, I do not blame you if you hate me. But then, after all, we are blood relatives, blood is thicker than water ah, is it not. In fact, I had known a few months ago when I had gotten to know you, but I was afraid that you would not accept it, afraid that you would resent me, so I was not in a rush to say this to you, and did not dare tell you that in fact I am your real father!”
A while later, An Ran finally had a reaction. She did not look at him, looked at anywhere but him, with no focus, somewhat hollow, she just flatly spoke without emotions, “Then why would you say it now!”
Tong Wen Hai sighed and said, “There are no fathers who would not want their daughter to call them father, there are fathers who could endure for a long time, clearly knowing that the other side is their own daughter, but with their own child is so cold and polite like a stranger, that just left a bad taste.”
“Hehe…” An Ran just sneered. “Hehe….”
Tong Wen Hai looked at her carefully, and weighed in, “Ran Ran, you will help dad, right? You won’t let dad just go to jail, will you?” He could only rely on her now. He looked into it, Yan Li and the Su family were good friends, if the Su family asked him to not investigate, then that would be useful. It’ll be impossible to call up the Su family directly, but through An Ran, wouldn’t it be the same.
An Ran coldly moved her shoulders, pulling on her lips, but could not say a word.
Seeing her speechless, Tong Wen Hai coaxed, “An Ran, call me father, okay? I’ve always dreamt of you calling me Dad!”
Hearing those words, Lin Xaio Fen somewhat crazily said, “Tong Wen Hai, you do not deserve it, you do not deserve it at all!”
And on the side, Gu Heng Wen stared closely at An Ran, hand tightly grasped with Lin Xiao Fen’s hand, he was so nervous that he couldn’t take another breath.
Su Yi Cheng stepped forward, and held An Ran. He just felt that she was completely tense.
He glared at Tong Wen Hai with anger, and coldly said, “Bureau Chief Tong, please leave. If you don’t, don’t blame me for calling security.”
Tong Wen hai turned to look at him, staring. Somewhat in disbelief, he raised his voice and said, “Didn’t you hear it just now? I am the father, that is, your father-in-law!”
Su Yi Cheng looked at him coldly, and firmly said, “I only have one father-in-law, that is Gu Heng Wen, will always only be him!” He’s embarrassed for this man, why does he still have the face to say these!
Hearing what was said, An Ran finally returned to her senses. She set her eyes on Su Yi Cheng, hand tightly grasped with his hand.
Tong Wen Hai turned his head to not look at him, only looked at An Ran and said, “But, you—”
An Ran looked up at him, interrupted him and said, “I only have one father, and that is Gu Heng Wen!” Word for word, she put it clearly.
“He is not your father, I am. You and I are biological relatives, father and daughter!” Tong Wen Hai said, in a hurry to explain, “So, we can go to the hospital, we can go to the hospital and do a paternity test, so you know, that you and I are father and daughter, he, Gu Heng Wen, is simply an outsider!” Tong Wen Hai knew that does if he does not cling to the last salvation that is An Ran, then his efforts over the past 30 years.. In the first place he had to give up so many things to achieve his present status and wealth, then there really will be nothing, then his past 30 years of efforts, would be for nothing!
“No need!” An Ran refused, her tone firm. She questioned him, “Even if you were related to me, so what? What have you done for me, where were you when my dad was carrying the me who had a 39-degree fever and rushed me to the hospital overnight? Where were you when he taught he every single word? Where were you when I fell and he hugged me for comfort? He didn’t sleep for a few nights and finally finished marking his student exams, and because he knew that my work was not going well he gave up his rest to talk to me, to give me advice all night, where were you? Where were you doing when he was doing all of this for me, why should I recognize you, a complete and total stranger, as a father, just because you say so?”
“I, at that time, I didn’t know, I didn’t know you existed!” Tong Wen Hai explained, “If I had known this, I would have—”
“You would have what?” An Ran sneered, “You knew that I was your daughter when you came to me to accuse me of wrecking Tong Xiao Jie and Mo Fei’s marriage, because Tong Xiao Jie and Mo Fei fought you came to me and denounced me as someone with no proper upbringing. Besides accusing me, what have you done for me?”
“I…” Tong Wen Hai was stumped from her questioning.
An Ran looked at him, she looked at him with unwavering determination and said, “He cherished me, loved me dearly, from childhood to adulthood he accepted everything about me, what I didn’t do well, he would criticize me and allow me to make it right, from my errors I matured, what I did well he would encourage me, let me persist so that I would do even better, from childhood until now, he never showed lack of paternal love, had never alienated me because he wasn’t blood related to me, rejected me, not cherished me, this kind of man deserves to be called a father, you are nothing at all! You don’t deserve it!”
At the side, Lin Xiao Fen because of An Ran’s words couldn’t help but cry out, and holding her, Gu Heng Wen’s eyes were also red. That was the secret that the two of them had been hiding for nearly 30 years, had been afraid to let An Ran know, had been worried about An Ran if she had known, sometimes even often awakened by nightmares, in which An Ran would know, then would stop associating with them, there were countless days that they were in constant worry and fear. But as it turns out, as it turns out after it came out it wouldn’t be like that. Of course, An Ran had always been a good girl, why would she stop seeing them just because of this, it was they who had no confidence in themselves, it was they who had worried so much that they were in fear!
“An Ran, look at me, I am the person who is related by blood, although I have not done anything for you, but we are biological father and daughter, this is a fact that no one can change ah!” Tong Wen hai was making the final struggle!
An Ran shook her head and looked at him with a freezing cold expression, “You are nothing to me! If people only recognized each other by blood, by usefulness, does not recognize kinship, does not know how to be grateful, how sad would that be!”
---END OF CHAPTER---
Next Chapter
Tuesday, 14 May 2019
Saturday, 4 May 2019
First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 135 Translation
Previous Chapter
135. Candlelight Dinner
An Ran and Lin Li turned their heads at the same time, only to see not too far from them, Ling Lin was looking at them with a face full of anger.
Lin Li glanced at An Ran, and inquired, “Who is she, you know her?”
An Ran nodded, “Former colleague.” She looked at Ling Lin with a frown.
Ling Lin walked over to them, appeared to be in a rage, stood in front of An Ran, with a sharp tone she said, “Gu An Ran, was that right, was what you made Brother Yi Cheng do right!”
An Ran instinctively leaned back. Ling Lin had sprayed perfume all over herself, the smell was making her sick. She frowned even more, and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Are you acting stupid with me.” Ling Lin took a step forward, glowered at her, the expression in her eyes seemed to swallow her whole. She denounced, “Our Ling Family is the way it is now because of you!” Dad said that Brother Yi Cheng was the one who framed him and exposed him, she knew it must be this woman, if not for this woman inciting Yi Cheng, Yi Cheng definitely wouldn’t have ignored the two families’ past relation, and purposely exposed dad, and the Ling Family wouldn’t be like this now, all her friends are purposely avoiding her and shunning her, scared that she would come to them for help.
An Ran’s lips tightened, then stiffly said, “I didn’t.” There was a burst of tumbling in the stomach, felt like it was coming up. An Ran got up, wanting to go to the washroom, but was blocked by Ling Lin.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Ling Lin blocked her from leaving, and viciously said, “Today we will make it clear, what is your intention, what did our Ling Family do wrong to you, why did you harm our Ling Family!”
An Ran was truly sick, she could feel the food that was just in her stomach come up to her throat, if she doesn’t go now, she really can’t guarantee that she could hold it down!
Lin Li could see that An Ran was unwell. One look at Ling Lin and she could see that she was unwilling to give up, so she quickly got up and went around the table, said, “Hey, what’s wrong with this woman, what kind of person just walks up to people and starts yelling at them?”
“Who are you, what does my business have anything to do with you!” Ling Lin stared at her with wide eyes, her face was full of disdain.
An Ran covered her mouth. She wanted to push Ling Lin out of the way but couldn’t, instead while she was shoving her she couldn’t hold it in anymore, and everything came out and spilled all over Ling Lin.
*Retching*…. Everything she had this evening, at lunch, landed upon Ling Lin.
Ling Lin had been wearing a chiffon dress, the muslin was elegant. The skirt was not too long, didn’t even go past the knee, and right now in this tragedy, it got on the skirt, even her thighs were covered in An Ran’s dirty vomit. There were even some things had not been digested yet, it was still in its original form, looking at it made people turn back around, disgusted.
At this time it seemed as if everything had stopped. The three women did not speak, the noisy restaurant became quiet immediately, leaving only the restaurant’s acoustic music behind, faintly broadcasting a gentle tune.
The very first person who reacted was Lin Li. Upon seeing Ling Lin covered in vomit, and seeing that furious expression turn into horror, she suddenly had an urge to laugh.
An Ran was still very unwell, only a little bit better compared to before. She looked at Ling Lin in front of her, then looked at the filth on her body, she at the moment did not know what she should say.
Ling Lin started to tremble, both hands tightly clasped, the sour smell mixed with her perfume quickly combined into a disgusting smell. Right now, she was so pissed she really wanted to hit someone.
Lin Li couldn’t hold it anymore, and let out a muffled laugh, “Haha….”
Ling Lin turned to glare at her, she was about to come to blows with her.
Lin Li coughed and restrained a smile. One could see that she wanted to laugh but wanted to put on a straight face.
However, all of this infuriated Ling Lin even more, she put all the blame on An Ran. She viciously turned her head, and furiously looked at her, almost gnashing her teeth, “Gu An Ran!”
An Ran looked at her. At that moment she had forgotten the morning sickness, seeing her clothes and her exposed thigh, she really did not know what she should say, could only look at her and unnaturally raise her hand to gesture something, forced a smile and said, “S-sorry, your perfume was too pungent, I wanted to go to the washroom, but you blocked me, so…”
“It’s still my fault?!” Ling Lin said that sentence with every word bitten down.
An Ran smiled apologetically, she instinctively wanted to retreat.
Lin Li looked at the embarrassed Ling Lin, couldn’t help but ask, “Um, you really don’t plan to go to the washroom first?” Because she had been holding back her laugh, her voice had become a little strange.
Ling Lin glared at her viciously. She looked down at her own sorry state, she had been biting her own teeth out of anger. Finally she turned around but before leaving she still remembered to glare at An Ran, “Just wait for me.” That voice was forced through her clenched teeth. She turned around to walk away, looked at the waitress watching. Her eyes were firing with anger, she snarled, “What are you looking at!” She was swearing up and down as she headed towards the washroom.
After she left, Lin Li really did laugh out loud, “Hahahah… An Zi, this move was heartless, did you see her appearance, really killed me.”
An Ran also found it funny. She looked at her and grudgingly said, “You’re still laughing.” Her mouth, because of the vomit, had become unwell, she grabbed the glass of water on the table and rinsed her mouth. She looked at the food that was almost done, grabbed her bag from the chair, then looked at Lin Li and asked, “Wanna go?” Of course, she wasn’t going to wait for Ling Lin to return.
“Duh, otherwise you’ll vomit on that wild woman again when she comes back, that’ll really make laugh until my stomach aches, stomach cramp!” Lin Li said as she grabbed her bag and walked with An Ran, “Let’s walk around the mall.”
“Sure.” An Ran nodded, she also wanted to go to the mall and buy some shirts for Su Yi Cheng, she noticed before that some of his were somewhat creased.
The two strolled around the mall hand in hand. When they passed the maternity store Lin Li insisted on dragging An Ran inside to buy some products, said that she wanted to give a present to her adopted son.
The two finally decided on buying two maternity dresses and a newborn gift bag, and left the shop. It so happened that the children’s clothing store was right beside the maternity shop.
Lin Li had an unknown impulse, and dragged An Ran inside, said that she wanted to buy clothes.
An Ran thought that she had wanted to buy clothes for the baby in her stomach. She pulled her aside and said, “These clothes are for 4-5 year olds, why on earth are you buying clothes here, you’ll have to wait a few years if you want your adopted son to wear these, why are you so anxious.”
Lin Li glared at her, and said, “Who said your baby is my only adopted son.” After she said that she allowed no other explanation and pulled her inside.
An Ran looked at her oddly, sensing something out of character, or maybe she had missed something this past month. She stood at the entrance, suddenly stopping there.
Lin Li saw that she wasn’t walking, and looked at her puzzled, asked, “What’s wrong, why aren’t you coming in?”
An Ran looked at her strangely, not saying anything after a while.
Lin Li started to feel worry from her look, “What’s wrong?” She unconsciously pulled on her clothes, rubbed her face, examining herself to see if something had been on it.
“Speak, what have you been doing lately.” An Ran questioned. Looking at her appearance, she absolutely sure there was something she didn’t know.
Lin Li’s face flashed an unnatural expression, not looking at her, and only said, “What do you mean, let’s go, let’s go inside and take a look, children’s clothes are so cute.” She simply pulled An Ran into the store.
She selected a few clothing for a 6-7 year old boy, and muttered, “Should buy something a little bigger, boys grow very quickly, they’ll grow out of it in no time.”
An Ran grabbed the pair of clothes from her hands, and said, “What child is growing fast, where did this little child come from!”
“Aiya, I’m overflowing with maternal love okay, it’s someone else’s child, I found them pitiful, the father isn’t very affectionate.” Lin Li said and grabbed it back, and said that she is going to the counter to pay.
Seeming as if she made a connection, An Ran pulled her, stared at her, and asked,” Lin Li, are you hiding something from me?”
Lin Li looked at her, and just said, “Why would I hide something from you.”
She looked at the clothes in her hands, An Ran slowly started to say, “Lin Li, I know that Cheng Xiang had hurt you deeply, but I never thought that you would turn out this way and not take responsibility for yourself.” She calculated in her head, she and Cheng Xiang had separated for almost 4 months, and recently she seemed to be in a good mood, if there was a man, she would wish that she’d seize her own happiness, but if she is doing this to avoid facing something, and wronging herself, this is not something she wanted to see. She had been wronged in love for nearly 10 years, if she was still wronging herself, then she is causing herself heartache.
Lin Li was silent. She turned to her, and forced a smile, “You think I have the ability to love someone else?” She grasped on the clothes in her hand, very strongly!
“Lin Li.” An Ran looked at her with worry, but she wasn’t sure what she should say to console her. She had been through it with her from the beginning to the end, she clearly understood the pain, but she knew that pain takes time, it’s not something that only needs a few months to recover.
A while later, Lin Li looked at her, shook her head, had a faint smile on her lips, and just said, “I’m okay.”
An Ran nodded. She didn’t know what else to say, she could say something, but instead she returned a faint smile.
Because she was not assured to let her go home alone, Lin Li sent An Ran back to her home. When they got to the gate, Su Yi Cheng came out from the security’s office, wearing home clothes, his hair looked like it had been washed, loose.
Seeing An Ran and Lin Li come over, he smiled at them and headed towards them. An Ran was surprised, but happy, and quickly let go of Lin Li’s hand and walked over to him, “Why did you come home so early?” It was only 9 o’clock now, and not only was he home, he had already changed and washed up.
“Today wasn’t as busy.” Su Yi Cheng gently said, reached out to stroke her head, brushing away the bangs that the wind had messed up.
“Tsk tsk tsk….” Lin Li walked over to the couple as she clicked her tongue. She saw that An Ran had ignored her friend, and complained, “Leaving your sister behind when you have a man.” One look at Su Yi Cheng and she threw herself at him, too smitten to have character.
An Ran stuck out her tongue somewhat embarrassed. Actually to call An Ran and Su Yi Cheng a married couple, every night even though they slept on the same bed, but Su Yi Cheng had been very busy during this period of time and they didn’t get to see each other much. He’s already gone when she wakes up, and she falls asleep before he even gets home, she felt like it had been a long time since she’s seen him. Tonight was a rare night that he came home early, when they go up later they can have time to talk.
Su Yi Cheng also smiled and looked at Lin Li, “Do you want to come up to sit for a bit?”
Lin Li waved her head, her face full of disdain, “I’m not interested in becoming a wobbly third wheel.”
“Then do you want us to send you back?” Su Yi Cheng asked politely. He simply felt that it was inappropriate to let a woman go home alone at night.
“No need, I’m not that delicate.” Lin Li said casually. “Just go back to your own intimacy, I’m leaving.” She turned around, then suddenly remembered something, and turned back to look at Su Yi Cheng, “Oh right, let me tell you even though you’re busy you better still take care of your wife, why does it look like An Ran is skinnier now than when she wasn’t pregnant ah.”
Su Yi Cheng nodded his head in shame, and said, “Yes, it was because I didn’t take care of An Ran, I will be careful from now on.”
Lin Li then nodded, and did not forget to threaten, “If you bully An Ran, I, Lin Li, will not let you get off, even if you were deputy mayor or the city mayor.”
“Yes.” Su Yi Cheng forced a laugh, somewhat embarrassed. He was this big, and also had been let go countless times when things were bad, yet this is the first time that a woman said that she wouldn’t let him off.
“Alright alright, Yi Cheng wouldn’t bully me okay, rest assured.” An Ran was truly helpless because of Lin Li, but she was still moved by everything that she did for herself.
“You, little An Ran, turn your elbow out, I’m trying to help you!” Lin Li shouted resentfully at An Ran. This chit was so ungrateful!
An Ran chuckled, “Okay okay, if Su Yi Cheng bullies me, I won’t go find my mom or dad, I’ll head straight to you Lin Li, the two of us will come over and beat him up okay?”
Lin Li nodded, and affirmed, “Yes, you must, if you dare bully one of us, there will be no pardon!”
Su Yi Cheng standing at the side could only rub his nose helplessly.
Seeing Lin Li off, after making sure that she got on the car, An Ran then followed Su Yi Cheng and headed to the apartment block. Su Yi Cheng was considerate and carried her bag for her, one hand holding her bag while the other held her hand.
While they were waiting for the elevator An Ran innocently fiddled with his hand. She then remembered something, raised her head to look at him, and said, “Hey, do you think after two years you will still hold my hand like this?”
Su Yi Cheng glanced at her, smiled, and nodded assuredly, “Of course, definitely.” Don’t even say two years, after 10, 20 years everything will be the same. He was not an unfaithful man, he is determined to hold the same hand for a lifetime.
An Ran looked at him, wrinkled her nose at him, and said, “Lies, you won’t even hold my hand!” Her tone was like it had already happened, it was certain.
Su Yi Cheng raised his eyebrows, and asked, “Why?” She can’t see into the future, even if she could, then she should see that he’ll always hold her hand, why does she think the opposite!
An Ran looked at him, then looked down on her stomach, and pointed at it, “Look here, in two years, this little one will be walking, at that time she will squeeze in between us, holding onto each of our hands!”
Hearing that, Su Yi Chang laughed out loud. He squeezed her hand, and said, “No, I won’t let her stand between us, I will still be holding your hand, and she will stand on the other side.”
“Ho, won’t she feel like her mother doesn’t love her.” An Ran protested.
When the elevator arrived, Su Yi Cheng laughed, and pulled her inside, “Doesn’t matter, I will tell her that you love her, only mother is jealous of her, and wants daddy to hold her hand.”
“I am not jealous.” An Ran pouted as a way to defend herself. Why would she be jealous of her own daughter!
Su Yi Cheng laughed out loud. Her lips were balled up so cutely, so he took the opportunity to pull her into his embrace, and pecked her on the lips.
An Ran was surprised by his move, and quickly pushed him off. Her cheeks were burning red. They’re still in the elevator, and there’s a camera, they could have been seen by the security guard monitoring, if it really was seen, she’d be embarrassed to death!
Su Yi Cheng knew that she was embarrassed, and just suppressed a chuckle, not too aggravate her. He doesn’t want others to see her tempting bashful appearance.
The two entered their apartment. An Ran tiredly changed her shoes and went to lie down on the sofa, Su Yi Cheng couldn’t help but shake his head as he put his stuff beside the sofa, then pulled on An Ran’s hands, “Come, eat with me.”
Hearing that, An Ran was surprised, she looked at him, and frowned, “You haven’t eaten yet?” She looked at the time, it was after 9, he washed up, washed his hair, changed his clothes, and even waited for her downstairs, yet he hadn’t eaten yet!
Su Yi Cheng laughed, doesn’t explain, and just led her to the counter.
It was only when An Ran approached it that she discovered that the counter had long been set up with cutlery, plates, toast, goblets, milk and red wine, and even candlesticks, with red candles on top. An Ran was speechless, looked at it blankly for a while, then turned around with a puzzled look, “This, this is?”
Su Yi Cheng smiled and helped her up to the red stool chair, “Originally I wanted to go out to dinner with you, but when I got home I happened to bump into Auntie Zhang leaving, and found out that you already went out with Lin Li for dinner, and even forgot your cellphone on the counter.” He spoke as he went into the kitchen. He started up the stove again, and continued to heat up the half-cooked steak in the pan, and continued to speak, “Since I couldn’t get a date with you, I decided to might as well go to the supermarket and get these things ready. I thought of waiting for you to come home, and we can have a candlelight dinner.”
An Ran listened, and watched his back as he was busy in the kitchen. She wanted to cry and laugh. She wanted to laugh because she felt so blessed, that she had such a man who spoiled her so much, and wanted to cry because she was moved, that this man had obviously been so busy, but still wanted to take out the time and do all of this for her. Sometimes she couldn’t help but ask herself how in the world she got this lucky, how can there be such a man who’d do this much for her.
Because An Ran was pregnant, she couldn’t eat things that were raw, so he cooked the steak until it was well done, then raised the pan and transferred the steak into the dish, sprinkled some tomato sauce that he had prepared himself, delivered the steak to An Ran, then turned around to get his part, and poured himself a cup of red wine, while giving An Ran some milk. After everything was done, he then looked at An Ran, and laughed as he said, Wait, there’s still something else. He turned and grabbed the lighter placed on the counter, then lit up each candle stick. After all of them were lit, he moved over to the light switch, and dimmed down the lights in the house. The flickering of the candles on the counter seemed like the ones at the restaurant, and music was turned on, the atmosphere was exactly like a restaurant.
“You….” An Ran smiled, somewhat speechless.
Su Yi Cheng also smiled, and asked, “Does it feel similar?”
“Yes, yes.” An Ran nodded. Very powerfully, to that point that tears came out, she was moved, it was happiness.
Su Yi Cheng couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head. He pampered, “Fool.” Then reached out to wipe her tears, and grabbed a rose from underneath the counter, and gave it to her, said, “There’s no point in buying a bouquet, so I just bought one. We can feel the mood, right?”
An Ran nodded, smiling and crying, she accepted it, lowered her head to smell the rose, and tightened her lips, and softly said, “Su Yi Cheng, why are you so good to me?” She’ll be spoiled.
Su Yi Cheng reached out to take her hand, and brought it up to his lips and kissed it, then softly said, “You are my wife, if I’m not good to you who will I be good to?”
An Ran chuckled, the expression on her face was joyous and happy.
Su Yi Cheng released her hand, stroke her face, and wiped her tears away, “Alright, will you eat it while it’s hot with me?” He did this for her, every day he saw her throw up everything she ate and did not see her any meatier, although he was busy, he was still inevitably worried.
An Ran nodded, “Okay.” She grabbed the cutlery and sliced the steak, and happily ate the candlelit meal that he had specially prepared for her.
The couple ate and talked, they were very happy and cheerful. They would grab their cup of wine and cup of milk and did a cheer, and even fed each other like intimate couples. Just when the two were having a good time, the phone in the living room rang at this time, a little abrupt.
An Ran turned to go pick it up, but was stopped by Su Yi Cheng.
“I’ll go.” He put down the knife and fork in his hand and left the kitchen to pick up the phone. “Hello?”
An Ran did not know who had called, and what had been said, but she saw Su Yi Cheng frown with displeasure.
---END OF CHAPTER---
Next Chapter
135. Candlelight Dinner
An Ran and Lin Li turned their heads at the same time, only to see not too far from them, Ling Lin was looking at them with a face full of anger.
Lin Li glanced at An Ran, and inquired, “Who is she, you know her?”
An Ran nodded, “Former colleague.” She looked at Ling Lin with a frown.
Ling Lin walked over to them, appeared to be in a rage, stood in front of An Ran, with a sharp tone she said, “Gu An Ran, was that right, was what you made Brother Yi Cheng do right!”
An Ran instinctively leaned back. Ling Lin had sprayed perfume all over herself, the smell was making her sick. She frowned even more, and said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Are you acting stupid with me.” Ling Lin took a step forward, glowered at her, the expression in her eyes seemed to swallow her whole. She denounced, “Our Ling Family is the way it is now because of you!” Dad said that Brother Yi Cheng was the one who framed him and exposed him, she knew it must be this woman, if not for this woman inciting Yi Cheng, Yi Cheng definitely wouldn’t have ignored the two families’ past relation, and purposely exposed dad, and the Ling Family wouldn’t be like this now, all her friends are purposely avoiding her and shunning her, scared that she would come to them for help.
An Ran’s lips tightened, then stiffly said, “I didn’t.” There was a burst of tumbling in the stomach, felt like it was coming up. An Ran got up, wanting to go to the washroom, but was blocked by Ling Lin.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Ling Lin blocked her from leaving, and viciously said, “Today we will make it clear, what is your intention, what did our Ling Family do wrong to you, why did you harm our Ling Family!”
An Ran was truly sick, she could feel the food that was just in her stomach come up to her throat, if she doesn’t go now, she really can’t guarantee that she could hold it down!
Lin Li could see that An Ran was unwell. One look at Ling Lin and she could see that she was unwilling to give up, so she quickly got up and went around the table, said, “Hey, what’s wrong with this woman, what kind of person just walks up to people and starts yelling at them?”
“Who are you, what does my business have anything to do with you!” Ling Lin stared at her with wide eyes, her face was full of disdain.
An Ran covered her mouth. She wanted to push Ling Lin out of the way but couldn’t, instead while she was shoving her she couldn’t hold it in anymore, and everything came out and spilled all over Ling Lin.
*Retching*…. Everything she had this evening, at lunch, landed upon Ling Lin.
Ling Lin had been wearing a chiffon dress, the muslin was elegant. The skirt was not too long, didn’t even go past the knee, and right now in this tragedy, it got on the skirt, even her thighs were covered in An Ran’s dirty vomit. There were even some things had not been digested yet, it was still in its original form, looking at it made people turn back around, disgusted.
At this time it seemed as if everything had stopped. The three women did not speak, the noisy restaurant became quiet immediately, leaving only the restaurant’s acoustic music behind, faintly broadcasting a gentle tune.
The very first person who reacted was Lin Li. Upon seeing Ling Lin covered in vomit, and seeing that furious expression turn into horror, she suddenly had an urge to laugh.
An Ran was still very unwell, only a little bit better compared to before. She looked at Ling Lin in front of her, then looked at the filth on her body, she at the moment did not know what she should say.
Ling Lin started to tremble, both hands tightly clasped, the sour smell mixed with her perfume quickly combined into a disgusting smell. Right now, she was so pissed she really wanted to hit someone.
Lin Li couldn’t hold it anymore, and let out a muffled laugh, “Haha….”
Ling Lin turned to glare at her, she was about to come to blows with her.
Lin Li coughed and restrained a smile. One could see that she wanted to laugh but wanted to put on a straight face.
However, all of this infuriated Ling Lin even more, she put all the blame on An Ran. She viciously turned her head, and furiously looked at her, almost gnashing her teeth, “Gu An Ran!”
An Ran looked at her. At that moment she had forgotten the morning sickness, seeing her clothes and her exposed thigh, she really did not know what she should say, could only look at her and unnaturally raise her hand to gesture something, forced a smile and said, “S-sorry, your perfume was too pungent, I wanted to go to the washroom, but you blocked me, so…”
“It’s still my fault?!” Ling Lin said that sentence with every word bitten down.
An Ran smiled apologetically, she instinctively wanted to retreat.
Lin Li looked at the embarrassed Ling Lin, couldn’t help but ask, “Um, you really don’t plan to go to the washroom first?” Because she had been holding back her laugh, her voice had become a little strange.
Ling Lin glared at her viciously. She looked down at her own sorry state, she had been biting her own teeth out of anger. Finally she turned around but before leaving she still remembered to glare at An Ran, “Just wait for me.” That voice was forced through her clenched teeth. She turned around to walk away, looked at the waitress watching. Her eyes were firing with anger, she snarled, “What are you looking at!” She was swearing up and down as she headed towards the washroom.
After she left, Lin Li really did laugh out loud, “Hahahah… An Zi, this move was heartless, did you see her appearance, really killed me.”
An Ran also found it funny. She looked at her and grudgingly said, “You’re still laughing.” Her mouth, because of the vomit, had become unwell, she grabbed the glass of water on the table and rinsed her mouth. She looked at the food that was almost done, grabbed her bag from the chair, then looked at Lin Li and asked, “Wanna go?” Of course, she wasn’t going to wait for Ling Lin to return.
“Duh, otherwise you’ll vomit on that wild woman again when she comes back, that’ll really make laugh until my stomach aches, stomach cramp!” Lin Li said as she grabbed her bag and walked with An Ran, “Let’s walk around the mall.”
“Sure.” An Ran nodded, she also wanted to go to the mall and buy some shirts for Su Yi Cheng, she noticed before that some of his were somewhat creased.
The two strolled around the mall hand in hand. When they passed the maternity store Lin Li insisted on dragging An Ran inside to buy some products, said that she wanted to give a present to her adopted son.
The two finally decided on buying two maternity dresses and a newborn gift bag, and left the shop. It so happened that the children’s clothing store was right beside the maternity shop.
Lin Li had an unknown impulse, and dragged An Ran inside, said that she wanted to buy clothes.
An Ran thought that she had wanted to buy clothes for the baby in her stomach. She pulled her aside and said, “These clothes are for 4-5 year olds, why on earth are you buying clothes here, you’ll have to wait a few years if you want your adopted son to wear these, why are you so anxious.”
Lin Li glared at her, and said, “Who said your baby is my only adopted son.” After she said that she allowed no other explanation and pulled her inside.
An Ran looked at her oddly, sensing something out of character, or maybe she had missed something this past month. She stood at the entrance, suddenly stopping there.
Lin Li saw that she wasn’t walking, and looked at her puzzled, asked, “What’s wrong, why aren’t you coming in?”
An Ran looked at her strangely, not saying anything after a while.
Lin Li started to feel worry from her look, “What’s wrong?” She unconsciously pulled on her clothes, rubbed her face, examining herself to see if something had been on it.
“Speak, what have you been doing lately.” An Ran questioned. Looking at her appearance, she absolutely sure there was something she didn’t know.
Lin Li’s face flashed an unnatural expression, not looking at her, and only said, “What do you mean, let’s go, let’s go inside and take a look, children’s clothes are so cute.” She simply pulled An Ran into the store.
She selected a few clothing for a 6-7 year old boy, and muttered, “Should buy something a little bigger, boys grow very quickly, they’ll grow out of it in no time.”
An Ran grabbed the pair of clothes from her hands, and said, “What child is growing fast, where did this little child come from!”
“Aiya, I’m overflowing with maternal love okay, it’s someone else’s child, I found them pitiful, the father isn’t very affectionate.” Lin Li said and grabbed it back, and said that she is going to the counter to pay.
Seeming as if she made a connection, An Ran pulled her, stared at her, and asked,” Lin Li, are you hiding something from me?”
Lin Li looked at her, and just said, “Why would I hide something from you.”
She looked at the clothes in her hands, An Ran slowly started to say, “Lin Li, I know that Cheng Xiang had hurt you deeply, but I never thought that you would turn out this way and not take responsibility for yourself.” She calculated in her head, she and Cheng Xiang had separated for almost 4 months, and recently she seemed to be in a good mood, if there was a man, she would wish that she’d seize her own happiness, but if she is doing this to avoid facing something, and wronging herself, this is not something she wanted to see. She had been wronged in love for nearly 10 years, if she was still wronging herself, then she is causing herself heartache.
Lin Li was silent. She turned to her, and forced a smile, “You think I have the ability to love someone else?” She grasped on the clothes in her hand, very strongly!
“Lin Li.” An Ran looked at her with worry, but she wasn’t sure what she should say to console her. She had been through it with her from the beginning to the end, she clearly understood the pain, but she knew that pain takes time, it’s not something that only needs a few months to recover.
A while later, Lin Li looked at her, shook her head, had a faint smile on her lips, and just said, “I’m okay.”
An Ran nodded. She didn’t know what else to say, she could say something, but instead she returned a faint smile.
Because she was not assured to let her go home alone, Lin Li sent An Ran back to her home. When they got to the gate, Su Yi Cheng came out from the security’s office, wearing home clothes, his hair looked like it had been washed, loose.
Seeing An Ran and Lin Li come over, he smiled at them and headed towards them. An Ran was surprised, but happy, and quickly let go of Lin Li’s hand and walked over to him, “Why did you come home so early?” It was only 9 o’clock now, and not only was he home, he had already changed and washed up.
“Today wasn’t as busy.” Su Yi Cheng gently said, reached out to stroke her head, brushing away the bangs that the wind had messed up.
“Tsk tsk tsk….” Lin Li walked over to the couple as she clicked her tongue. She saw that An Ran had ignored her friend, and complained, “Leaving your sister behind when you have a man.” One look at Su Yi Cheng and she threw herself at him, too smitten to have character.
An Ran stuck out her tongue somewhat embarrassed. Actually to call An Ran and Su Yi Cheng a married couple, every night even though they slept on the same bed, but Su Yi Cheng had been very busy during this period of time and they didn’t get to see each other much. He’s already gone when she wakes up, and she falls asleep before he even gets home, she felt like it had been a long time since she’s seen him. Tonight was a rare night that he came home early, when they go up later they can have time to talk.
Su Yi Cheng also smiled and looked at Lin Li, “Do you want to come up to sit for a bit?”
Lin Li waved her head, her face full of disdain, “I’m not interested in becoming a wobbly third wheel.”
“Then do you want us to send you back?” Su Yi Cheng asked politely. He simply felt that it was inappropriate to let a woman go home alone at night.
“No need, I’m not that delicate.” Lin Li said casually. “Just go back to your own intimacy, I’m leaving.” She turned around, then suddenly remembered something, and turned back to look at Su Yi Cheng, “Oh right, let me tell you even though you’re busy you better still take care of your wife, why does it look like An Ran is skinnier now than when she wasn’t pregnant ah.”
Su Yi Cheng nodded his head in shame, and said, “Yes, it was because I didn’t take care of An Ran, I will be careful from now on.”
Lin Li then nodded, and did not forget to threaten, “If you bully An Ran, I, Lin Li, will not let you get off, even if you were deputy mayor or the city mayor.”
“Yes.” Su Yi Cheng forced a laugh, somewhat embarrassed. He was this big, and also had been let go countless times when things were bad, yet this is the first time that a woman said that she wouldn’t let him off.
“Alright alright, Yi Cheng wouldn’t bully me okay, rest assured.” An Ran was truly helpless because of Lin Li, but she was still moved by everything that she did for herself.
“You, little An Ran, turn your elbow out, I’m trying to help you!” Lin Li shouted resentfully at An Ran. This chit was so ungrateful!
An Ran chuckled, “Okay okay, if Su Yi Cheng bullies me, I won’t go find my mom or dad, I’ll head straight to you Lin Li, the two of us will come over and beat him up okay?”
Lin Li nodded, and affirmed, “Yes, you must, if you dare bully one of us, there will be no pardon!”
Su Yi Cheng standing at the side could only rub his nose helplessly.
Seeing Lin Li off, after making sure that she got on the car, An Ran then followed Su Yi Cheng and headed to the apartment block. Su Yi Cheng was considerate and carried her bag for her, one hand holding her bag while the other held her hand.
While they were waiting for the elevator An Ran innocently fiddled with his hand. She then remembered something, raised her head to look at him, and said, “Hey, do you think after two years you will still hold my hand like this?”
Su Yi Cheng glanced at her, smiled, and nodded assuredly, “Of course, definitely.” Don’t even say two years, after 10, 20 years everything will be the same. He was not an unfaithful man, he is determined to hold the same hand for a lifetime.
An Ran looked at him, wrinkled her nose at him, and said, “Lies, you won’t even hold my hand!” Her tone was like it had already happened, it was certain.
Su Yi Cheng raised his eyebrows, and asked, “Why?” She can’t see into the future, even if she could, then she should see that he’ll always hold her hand, why does she think the opposite!
An Ran looked at him, then looked down on her stomach, and pointed at it, “Look here, in two years, this little one will be walking, at that time she will squeeze in between us, holding onto each of our hands!”
Hearing that, Su Yi Chang laughed out loud. He squeezed her hand, and said, “No, I won’t let her stand between us, I will still be holding your hand, and she will stand on the other side.”
“Ho, won’t she feel like her mother doesn’t love her.” An Ran protested.
When the elevator arrived, Su Yi Cheng laughed, and pulled her inside, “Doesn’t matter, I will tell her that you love her, only mother is jealous of her, and wants daddy to hold her hand.”
“I am not jealous.” An Ran pouted as a way to defend herself. Why would she be jealous of her own daughter!
Su Yi Cheng laughed out loud. Her lips were balled up so cutely, so he took the opportunity to pull her into his embrace, and pecked her on the lips.
An Ran was surprised by his move, and quickly pushed him off. Her cheeks were burning red. They’re still in the elevator, and there’s a camera, they could have been seen by the security guard monitoring, if it really was seen, she’d be embarrassed to death!
Su Yi Cheng knew that she was embarrassed, and just suppressed a chuckle, not too aggravate her. He doesn’t want others to see her tempting bashful appearance.
The two entered their apartment. An Ran tiredly changed her shoes and went to lie down on the sofa, Su Yi Cheng couldn’t help but shake his head as he put his stuff beside the sofa, then pulled on An Ran’s hands, “Come, eat with me.”
Hearing that, An Ran was surprised, she looked at him, and frowned, “You haven’t eaten yet?” She looked at the time, it was after 9, he washed up, washed his hair, changed his clothes, and even waited for her downstairs, yet he hadn’t eaten yet!
Su Yi Cheng laughed, doesn’t explain, and just led her to the counter.
It was only when An Ran approached it that she discovered that the counter had long been set up with cutlery, plates, toast, goblets, milk and red wine, and even candlesticks, with red candles on top. An Ran was speechless, looked at it blankly for a while, then turned around with a puzzled look, “This, this is?”
Su Yi Cheng smiled and helped her up to the red stool chair, “Originally I wanted to go out to dinner with you, but when I got home I happened to bump into Auntie Zhang leaving, and found out that you already went out with Lin Li for dinner, and even forgot your cellphone on the counter.” He spoke as he went into the kitchen. He started up the stove again, and continued to heat up the half-cooked steak in the pan, and continued to speak, “Since I couldn’t get a date with you, I decided to might as well go to the supermarket and get these things ready. I thought of waiting for you to come home, and we can have a candlelight dinner.”
An Ran listened, and watched his back as he was busy in the kitchen. She wanted to cry and laugh. She wanted to laugh because she felt so blessed, that she had such a man who spoiled her so much, and wanted to cry because she was moved, that this man had obviously been so busy, but still wanted to take out the time and do all of this for her. Sometimes she couldn’t help but ask herself how in the world she got this lucky, how can there be such a man who’d do this much for her.
Because An Ran was pregnant, she couldn’t eat things that were raw, so he cooked the steak until it was well done, then raised the pan and transferred the steak into the dish, sprinkled some tomato sauce that he had prepared himself, delivered the steak to An Ran, then turned around to get his part, and poured himself a cup of red wine, while giving An Ran some milk. After everything was done, he then looked at An Ran, and laughed as he said, Wait, there’s still something else. He turned and grabbed the lighter placed on the counter, then lit up each candle stick. After all of them were lit, he moved over to the light switch, and dimmed down the lights in the house. The flickering of the candles on the counter seemed like the ones at the restaurant, and music was turned on, the atmosphere was exactly like a restaurant.
“You….” An Ran smiled, somewhat speechless.
Su Yi Cheng also smiled, and asked, “Does it feel similar?”
“Yes, yes.” An Ran nodded. Very powerfully, to that point that tears came out, she was moved, it was happiness.
Su Yi Cheng couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head. He pampered, “Fool.” Then reached out to wipe her tears, and grabbed a rose from underneath the counter, and gave it to her, said, “There’s no point in buying a bouquet, so I just bought one. We can feel the mood, right?”
An Ran nodded, smiling and crying, she accepted it, lowered her head to smell the rose, and tightened her lips, and softly said, “Su Yi Cheng, why are you so good to me?” She’ll be spoiled.
Su Yi Cheng reached out to take her hand, and brought it up to his lips and kissed it, then softly said, “You are my wife, if I’m not good to you who will I be good to?”
An Ran chuckled, the expression on her face was joyous and happy.
Su Yi Cheng released her hand, stroke her face, and wiped her tears away, “Alright, will you eat it while it’s hot with me?” He did this for her, every day he saw her throw up everything she ate and did not see her any meatier, although he was busy, he was still inevitably worried.
An Ran nodded, “Okay.” She grabbed the cutlery and sliced the steak, and happily ate the candlelit meal that he had specially prepared for her.
The couple ate and talked, they were very happy and cheerful. They would grab their cup of wine and cup of milk and did a cheer, and even fed each other like intimate couples. Just when the two were having a good time, the phone in the living room rang at this time, a little abrupt.
An Ran turned to go pick it up, but was stopped by Su Yi Cheng.
“I’ll go.” He put down the knife and fork in his hand and left the kitchen to pick up the phone. “Hello?”
An Ran did not know who had called, and what had been said, but she saw Su Yi Cheng frown with displeasure.
---END OF CHAPTER---
Next Chapter
Thursday, 18 April 2019
First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 134 Translation
Previous Chapter
134. Morning Sickness
The party that day, due to Yan Li’s appearance and Ling Chuan Jiang’s disappearance, the atmosphere had died down. In the end everyone gave Secretary Zhang a few words of blessings and the house hastily emptied out. Su Yi Cheng was called into the study room by Secretary Zhang, while An Ran was pulled into the living room by Mrs. Zhang for a chat.
In the study room, Secretary Zhang had his hands behind him, stood in front of the window and looked out, while Su Yi Cheng was standing a few steps away from him. For a while, neither said anything.
The moon tonight was bright and beautiful, the round moon was sprinkled with starlight around it, a cold beauty.
They stood there for a while. Sighing, Secretary Zhang slowly starts to say, “After a few years, he will retire. There was no need.” His tone was heavy, there was this unspeakable gloom.
“He doesn’t think so.” Su Yi Cheng just faintly replied.
Secretary Zhang turned his head back, looked at him, and said, “I know you really hate him for the tricks he played on you last time.”
“The materials that I handed over were real, none of it was fake.” Su Yi Cheng explained, “Uncle Zhang, it’s not that if I don’t provoke people they won’t provoke me, sometimes power is an enticing thing for people. He’s afraid that I would get in his way, so he wanted to eliminate me by any means. I cannot just stand there waiting for someone else to slaughter me.”
Secretary Zhang looked at him, finally shook his head, “Just..” He and Ling Chuan Jiang worked together for so long, it could even be said that Ling Chuan Jiang had brought him up, so naturally he would know his conduct. In fact, he was aware of his errors, he even asked for his opinion on work in the past. Even after all these years it’s not easy for anyone.
“Ring ring ring---”
The phone in Secretary Zhang’s studio rang at this time. He looked at the caller ID, then glanced at Su Yi Cheng. He let out a sigh as he picked up the phone, it was Mrs. Ling who had called.
Su Yi Cheng looked at him, then nodded, and just said, “Uncle Zhang, I will leave first.”
Secretary Zhang just nodded, and waved his hand.
When he came out An Ran and Mrs. Zhang were in the living room. Mrs. Zhang was talking as she was patting An Ran, a big smile was present on both their faces, it seemed as if they were happy. Seeing Su Yi Cheng appear, Mrs. Zhang looked at Su Yi Cheng and playfully scolded, “You ah Ah Cheng, I knew you were hiding away your wife, if it weren’t for me insisting that you bring An Ran today, were you going to keep hiding her from me?”
“Not at all, An Ran’s sensitive, she’s shy.” Su Yi Cheng laughed as he headed over towards them.
“Che, An Ran’s fine chatting with me, we're this familiar already.” Mrs. Zhang turned her head to look at An Ran, and asked her, “An Ran, isn’t that right.”
An Ran smiled and nodded, “Yes, I’m comfortable with auntie.”
Su Yi Cheng rubbed his nose in embarrassment. He muttered, who was the one who pulled him aside before reaching here, asking what Auntie Zhang was like, is she nice, kind and what not.
She sent Su Yi Cheng and An Ran out to the yard. Mrs. Zhang was still reluctant. Perhaps it was because she had no children, the house gets very lonely, no genuine liveliness.
She pulled on An Ran’s hand, reluctant to let her leave, “An Ran ah, why don’t you two stay the night, we have a lot of empty rooms.”
An Ran looked at her in amusement, and said, “Auntie, I will come visit you.”
Mrs. Zhang was a little disappointed, but could only nod. She could only remind them to be careful on the road, and to drive slowly.
In the car, An Ran looked at him, and couldn’t help but ask, “Does that issue with the mayor have anything to do with you?” She clearly heard Ling Chuan Jiang say ‘You ruthless bastard’, at that time there was no one else, it was clearly directed towards Su Yi Cheng.
Su Yi Cheng turned to look at her, then turned back to look at the road. He just nodded slightly, and said, “I handed over the materials.”
An Ran nodded. Silently, she turned to look out the window. Somewhat speaking to herself, “Isn’t politics just like that, he framed you in the past, in any case no one is safe.”
Su Yi Cheng chuckled and shook his head. He knew that she was thinking too much, and reached out to stroke her hand, holding her. Not turning his head, he asked, “Are you imagining things again?”
An Ran turned to look at him, and squeezed his hand back, “You exposed him today, will there be someone who’ll expose you tomorrow? Like last time?” She found out herself, apparently being pregnant can make you easily depressed, she was prone to worry about everything.
Su Yi Cheng was defeated by her. He glanced over at her, knowing that if he doesn’t answer her now that she would overthink. So he pulled the car over to the side, pulled on her hand and carefully scrutinized it, put it up to his lips and gently kissed her, then raised his head to look at her, asked, “An Ran, in your eyes am I a man of no principle?”
An Ran shook her head. She looked at him with some confusion. He was really outstanding, this is something she had known from the start, and had never doubted.
“Then why are you so worried that I would be exposed or framed by someone?” With that, Su Yi Cheng pinched her nose playfully.
“I, I’m just afraid that it’ll be like last time.” She muttered in a low voice as she looked at him.
“Dummy.” His large palm stroked her head, “Last time it was something they deliberately made up, it was nothing at all, and I didn’t let go of my principles, we have nothing to be afraid of at all. The investigation team will conduct the investigation according to the leads provided, no one will hastily make a judgement on the basis of the data, there still needs to be an investigation and all.”
“Really?” An Ran was still uncertain, and looked at him with some doubt.
“Of course it’s true.” Su Yi Cheng gave her a definite reply. Then he reached out to stroke her face, as he said to her, “An Ran, trust me, last time that was a mishap, after that lesson, I will never let that same mistake happen again, to let someone take an opportunity to exploit me.”
An Ran looked at him earnestly. A while later, she nodded. She muttered in a low voice, “I actually knew that, and believe you. But I still can’t help but think.”
Su Yi Cheng reached out to pull her into his embrace, his hand patted her, he softly whispers into her ears, “I know, I know.”
“Okay.” An Ran hugged him back, with some strength.
Sometimes the media is such a powerful community, even if many try to hide the news, they will always somehow manage to dig it up. The news about Ling Chuan Jiang being investigated by the disciplinary committee was exposed by ‘Jiang City News’, even about the progress of the investigation, Ling Chuan Jiang’s use of the public office to accept bribery of nearly 5 million yuan, which even involved powerful corporations, that kind of news caused an uproar in the city.
Su Yi Cheng was still busy with Ke Ji City, and the bidding of the project was slowly getting on the right track, so compared to before, he had some time to see people.
However, as Su Yi Cheng was slowly settling down, An Ran, who did not have morning sickness before, suddenly had some morning sickness that acted up, she had no appetite, even smelling would make her gag. At first Auntie Zhang only came once every three days, but now because An Ran’s sickness was so severe, and Su Yi Cheng had to go to work, they could only have Auntie Zhang come over every day to take care of An Ran.
Qin Yun and Lin Xiao Fen also came over every other day to deliver chicken soup. Before, she was fine with drinking chicken soup, but now the smell of it was unbearable, she would run to the bathroom and throw up, scaring Qin Yun and Lin Xiao Fen that they stopped bringing over soup. Qin Yun didn’t know where she had heard it from, but she heard that eating pigeon eggs was good for pregnancy, so instead of bringing over soup she brought over a bag of pigeon eggs, then accompanied An Ran and chatted the entire day. In consideration of Su Yi Cheng being busy due to work, and she was uneasy with An Ran going outside on her own, Lin Xiao Fen would from time to time make An Ran’s favourite food and bring it over.
Pregnancy could really change a person’s preferences, what she loved to eat before, she could not stand the smell of it now, and the things she didn’t like before, she now had this inexplicable craving for them. However in the end she still didn’t have much appetite, her mouth was unenthusiastic, nothing she ate was flavourful. She ate little, and threw up a lot, a week of this, An Ran wasn’t able to gain any weight, but rather thinned a lot. Su Yi Cheng watching this had a frown on his face, full of heartache.
Su Yi Cheng had come back from a dinner party, An Ran was already asleep, her eyes closed as she lied on her side on the bed, her arms on top of his pillow.
Upon seeing her thinning face, his mouth became pointed, and rubbed her face with heartache, then lowered his head to kiss her forehead.
Then he gently lifts up the blanket covering her, put his large palm over her belly, stroked it softly, and whispered, “Baby, don’t torture mommy, daddy feels sorry for her.” As he said that, he gently leaned over, put his ear against her belly, and continued, “You need to eat well, don’t be picky about food, wait when you come out, daddy will buy you lots of delicious food.”
“Hehe….” Laughter came out from above Su Yi Cheng, clear and sweet.
Su Yi Cheng raised his head, then saw that An Ran was already awake. Her eyes wide open staring at him, her face had a smile.
He got up and reached for a kiss, then after a while he released her, reached out and combed away some stray hair. His voice sounded a bit sorry as he said, “Did I wake you up?”
An Ran smiled and shook her head. She looked at the time, and looked at him again with some pity, “So late.”
He doesn’t answer her, and doesn’t go wash up and change, just took off his socks, his coat, and lied down on the bed with his arm around her, so that his chest became her pillow.
He lowered his head and kissed the crown of her head, asked, “Are you still throwing up a lot today?”
Leaned against him, An Ran nodded, and slowly closed her eyes, feeling this inexplicable peace. Suddenly she remembered something, chuckled, and reached out to hit his chest, “Heng heng, it’s all your fault, it’s because of your ‘little sweetheart’ that I’m like this.” She was afraid of hurting him, so she didn’t hit too hard.
Su Yi Cheng muffled a laugh, and drew her into a tighter hug. He admitted his mistake, and said, “Yes, it’s my bad.”
“Forget it, I’ll forgive you, seeing how you apologized wasn’t bad.” Holding back a yawn, a certain someone was deliberately speaking magnanimously. Actually, not only is it his the ‘little sweetheart’ in her belly, it’s also her darling too.
Su Yi Cheng doesn’t refute her, and just followed along, so long as she’s happy. However as he hugged her, he noticed how thin she has become. He couldn’t help but frown. She was obviously pregnant, but she seemed to be even thinner than she was before pregnancy, almost like a bone person.
With some heartache he whispered into her ear and said, “Wife, let’s find a time to go out and play.” Being shut indoors all day must be making her depressed, going out and sightseeing, should pick up her mood, and perhaps may improve her appetite too.
An Ran in his arms was getting sleepy, she hadn’t slept much today, and she had thrown up almost everything she’d eaten this morning, even the smell would send her retching for a while, but not eating made her so very hungry, once she ate she had no appetite. However, for herself and her baby in her belly, she tried her best to eat more, and of course, she vomited more. So, she had been eating and throwing up all day, didn’t even have time to get sleepy, so now she was extremely exhausted.
With weariness, An Ran asked, “Do you have time?” Recently he had been busy, even though not as busy as before, but he doesn’t have much free time, and had to leave for work early morning. Of course, he returns late too, just not as bad as before.
Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng felt guilty, and said, “Sorry, I haven’t had the time to keep you company.” Recently, he truly did not have any time to be with An Ran. They say that during pregnancy women become sensitive and frail, they will often feel lonely, and will need company more than before. But concerning that, he seemed to be doing a bad job, not a qualified husband.
“Silly, you’re struggling for us.” An Ran chuckled. She reached out and pulled on his hand and placed it on her belly, her head rubbed against his chest. Then she slowly closed her eyes, even though she really wanted to talk to him a bit more, but her eyelids were really getting heavy, and the baby in her belly is calling her to sleep.
Su Yi Cheng chuckled, his large palm caressed her belly, the most intimate contact with the baby. A while later he held her and softly says to her, “An Ran, we’ll take a stroll this weekend, look at the mountains, look at the ocean, we’ll go wherever you want, okay?” Accompanying her to relieve boredom, together, it can be considered as him unwinding too.
Su Yi Cheng hugged her, and didn’t hear her answer for a while. He cautiously calls out, “An Ran?”
The person in his arms seemed to have heard him, rubbed her head against his chest, then murmured, “Yi Cheng….” Her voice was not clear, obviously speaking in her sleep.
He then lowered his head, and saw that the person in his arms already had her eyes closed, her little lips slightly open, listening carefully, he could even hear a lovely little snore, faint, gentle. He laughed and shook his head, and lowered his head to give a kiss on her lips. Her top lip closed, the little lips started to pout, it looked so adorable.
He moved as slowly and quietly as possible, slowly drew his arm out of her neck, and gently placed her head on her pillow. Then he quietly lifted the covers up and got off the bed, grabbed a pair of pyjamas from the wardrobe to change into, and went into the bathroom.
The next morning when An Ran woke up again, Su Yi Cheng had already left for work. She came out rubbing her eyes out of the sleepiness, Auntie Zhang was already here. She saw her muddle-headed appearance, and laughed as she said, “Madam, do you want me to heat up your breakfast now, the breakfast was personally done by the mister when I arrived.”
Hearing that, An Ran seemed to clear her head, looked at her and asked, “Yi Cheng made it?” Recently because Auntie Zhang came over every day, and Su Yi Cheng was busy with work, An Ran needed about 8-9 hours of sleep, so Auntie Zhang had been making breakfast for her after waiting for her to wake up.
Auntie Zhang laughed and said, “Yes ah, the mister said that he hadn’t made breakfast for you in a long time, and was afraid that you’d forget the taste of his cooking.” How could she forget the taste of his cooking, it was obvious that he couldn’t stand seeing her lose that much weight, he clearly felt heartache for his wife.
An Ran had a pretty smile on her face, nodded, and said, “I’ll go brush my teeth now.” She turned around and went into the bathroom. She was in a good mood, her voice was in high spirits, even her footsteps were light.
Auntie Zhang was watching her, and laughed. She had been a housekeeper for many years, and had gone through many employers, but very few instances had she seen such a happily married couple, people observing them would be envious.
She laughed as she shook her head, turned around to heat up the cold breakfast, then poured a large glass of milk. Not sure if it was because Su Yi Cheng’s cooking was that great, but after eating his food, An Ran seemed to have a good appetite, after that little breakfast she also managed to get that large glass of fresh milk down. It was really a miracle, she did not vomit, did not even feel nauseous.
The watching Auntie Zhang was a little dumbstruck, even when she was cleaning up the table she couldn’t help but mutter to herself, “So even the little darling in the stomach can recognize their own family’s handiwork, knew that the father had woken up early morning to make it, so did not want to waste his effort, and torment the mother.”
An Ran had heard it and laughed. She looked down on her belly, and rubbed it. It wasn’t the handiwork, it was the intention, she and her baby both valued the breakfast that he had made, so eating it made them especially happy, blessed.
When Lin Li called An Ran had just woken up. She said that she hadn’t seen her in a while, so she’ll come over this evening to talk and eat, they should hang out.
An Ran thought it was okay as well, Su Yi Cheng always came home quite late, and Auntie Zhang would leave after making dinner, so she always ate dinner alone. Besides, she and Lin Li really hadn’t seen each other in a while, ever since being discharged from the hospital, a month had passed since then. Thus, she readily agreed.
In consideration of An Ran’s pregnant state, Lin Li had found a place close to her house, the area was also quite quiet and secluded.
When An Ran arrived, Lin Li wasn’t there yet. She still liked to sit by the window, so she went straight to a window seat. She drank from the glass of water that the waitress brought her, and would look out the window from time to time and watch the people passing by.
The waitress gave her a menu, An Ran looked at it first, but just looking at the pictures of the dishes, An Ran had no appetite for them, instinctively rejected them, somewhat repulsed.
Lin Li energetically rushed over. It looked like she had been running, her hair was messed up by the wind, when she got over to her seat her breath was still unsteady.
Seeing her appearance, An Ran couldn’t help but grumble, “Why were you in such a hurry! Look at you panting, I won’t run away.”
She grabbed the glass of water the waitress had left, and drank half of it, “I didn’t want to make you wait. Traffic was jammed up all the way up to Garden Street, almost died running."
“You can just give me a call.” An Ran said. She can just say that she’d be a little late, she wouldn’t mind waiting a little more.
As she said that, Lin Li gave her a glare, “You’re so certain that you have your cellphone on you.” Did she think that she wanted to run over here, who was the one who forgot to take her phone with her, she called so many times yet no one picked up, made her scared that she’d keep her waiting for too long, so she got off the car half way, and ran over here.
“Ah!” Upon hearing that, An Ran looked through her bag. She indeed did not find her cellphone, then she remembered, before leaving she was afraid it’d be windy, so she grabbed a coat before leaving, while leaving the cellphone on top of the counter. When she left she hadn’t noticed, so she just went out the door without it.
She looked at Lin Li apologetically, and said, “I forgot it at home.”
Lin Li glared at her, and waved her hand, “Whatever, I’ll just consider it as exercise.” After that, she looked at the menu on the table, and asked, “So, did you see anything you like.”
An Ran shook her head, and pushed the menu aside, said, “You can order, I really don’t know what to eat.”
Lin Li looked at her, doesn’t say much, and just looked over tonight’s special. After all, she had been pregnant before, she knew how bad the sickness can be, even if you just look at something you’d have no appetite.
She just chose a few dishes randomly, asked for two bowls of plain rice, and the two girls chatted as they ate.
Today was a good day, even though she didn’t have much appetite, but she didn’t feeling like vomiting either, so An Ran told herself to eat as much as possible, even if she didn’t like it.
Halfway through the meal, Lin Li suddenly thought of something. She quickly took something out of her bag, and passed it over to An Ran saying, “Oh yes, I’m returning the key to you, I already found a place, turns out the company has a dorm arranged for me, and I already handed over the paperwork last week, it had been approved the day before yesterday, so I already moved my stuff into the dormitory.”
“You really have a dorm?” An Ran looked at her, somewhat doubtfully.
Lin Li glared at her, and said, “Of course it’s true, do you not see what our company does, we do real estate, buy houses, don’t tell me they’ll let their employees sleep on the streets ah.”
An Ran gave her a dirty look, but doesn’t say much more. She just reached out and accepted it.
“Gu An Ran.”
Suddenly a voice came up from behind, listening carefully one could hear the anger and unhappiness from their tone.
An Ran and Lin Li turned around at the same time, only to see not too far from them, Ling Lin was looking at them with a face full of anger.
---END OF CHAPTER---
Next Chapter
134. Morning Sickness
The party that day, due to Yan Li’s appearance and Ling Chuan Jiang’s disappearance, the atmosphere had died down. In the end everyone gave Secretary Zhang a few words of blessings and the house hastily emptied out. Su Yi Cheng was called into the study room by Secretary Zhang, while An Ran was pulled into the living room by Mrs. Zhang for a chat.
In the study room, Secretary Zhang had his hands behind him, stood in front of the window and looked out, while Su Yi Cheng was standing a few steps away from him. For a while, neither said anything.
The moon tonight was bright and beautiful, the round moon was sprinkled with starlight around it, a cold beauty.
They stood there for a while. Sighing, Secretary Zhang slowly starts to say, “After a few years, he will retire. There was no need.” His tone was heavy, there was this unspeakable gloom.
“He doesn’t think so.” Su Yi Cheng just faintly replied.
Secretary Zhang turned his head back, looked at him, and said, “I know you really hate him for the tricks he played on you last time.”
“The materials that I handed over were real, none of it was fake.” Su Yi Cheng explained, “Uncle Zhang, it’s not that if I don’t provoke people they won’t provoke me, sometimes power is an enticing thing for people. He’s afraid that I would get in his way, so he wanted to eliminate me by any means. I cannot just stand there waiting for someone else to slaughter me.”
Secretary Zhang looked at him, finally shook his head, “Just..” He and Ling Chuan Jiang worked together for so long, it could even be said that Ling Chuan Jiang had brought him up, so naturally he would know his conduct. In fact, he was aware of his errors, he even asked for his opinion on work in the past. Even after all these years it’s not easy for anyone.
“Ring ring ring---”
The phone in Secretary Zhang’s studio rang at this time. He looked at the caller ID, then glanced at Su Yi Cheng. He let out a sigh as he picked up the phone, it was Mrs. Ling who had called.
Su Yi Cheng looked at him, then nodded, and just said, “Uncle Zhang, I will leave first.”
Secretary Zhang just nodded, and waved his hand.
When he came out An Ran and Mrs. Zhang were in the living room. Mrs. Zhang was talking as she was patting An Ran, a big smile was present on both their faces, it seemed as if they were happy. Seeing Su Yi Cheng appear, Mrs. Zhang looked at Su Yi Cheng and playfully scolded, “You ah Ah Cheng, I knew you were hiding away your wife, if it weren’t for me insisting that you bring An Ran today, were you going to keep hiding her from me?”
“Not at all, An Ran’s sensitive, she’s shy.” Su Yi Cheng laughed as he headed over towards them.
“Che, An Ran’s fine chatting with me, we're this familiar already.” Mrs. Zhang turned her head to look at An Ran, and asked her, “An Ran, isn’t that right.”
An Ran smiled and nodded, “Yes, I’m comfortable with auntie.”
Su Yi Cheng rubbed his nose in embarrassment. He muttered, who was the one who pulled him aside before reaching here, asking what Auntie Zhang was like, is she nice, kind and what not.
She sent Su Yi Cheng and An Ran out to the yard. Mrs. Zhang was still reluctant. Perhaps it was because she had no children, the house gets very lonely, no genuine liveliness.
She pulled on An Ran’s hand, reluctant to let her leave, “An Ran ah, why don’t you two stay the night, we have a lot of empty rooms.”
An Ran looked at her in amusement, and said, “Auntie, I will come visit you.”
Mrs. Zhang was a little disappointed, but could only nod. She could only remind them to be careful on the road, and to drive slowly.
In the car, An Ran looked at him, and couldn’t help but ask, “Does that issue with the mayor have anything to do with you?” She clearly heard Ling Chuan Jiang say ‘You ruthless bastard’, at that time there was no one else, it was clearly directed towards Su Yi Cheng.
Su Yi Cheng turned to look at her, then turned back to look at the road. He just nodded slightly, and said, “I handed over the materials.”
An Ran nodded. Silently, she turned to look out the window. Somewhat speaking to herself, “Isn’t politics just like that, he framed you in the past, in any case no one is safe.”
Su Yi Cheng chuckled and shook his head. He knew that she was thinking too much, and reached out to stroke her hand, holding her. Not turning his head, he asked, “Are you imagining things again?”
An Ran turned to look at him, and squeezed his hand back, “You exposed him today, will there be someone who’ll expose you tomorrow? Like last time?” She found out herself, apparently being pregnant can make you easily depressed, she was prone to worry about everything.
Su Yi Cheng was defeated by her. He glanced over at her, knowing that if he doesn’t answer her now that she would overthink. So he pulled the car over to the side, pulled on her hand and carefully scrutinized it, put it up to his lips and gently kissed her, then raised his head to look at her, asked, “An Ran, in your eyes am I a man of no principle?”
An Ran shook her head. She looked at him with some confusion. He was really outstanding, this is something she had known from the start, and had never doubted.
“Then why are you so worried that I would be exposed or framed by someone?” With that, Su Yi Cheng pinched her nose playfully.
“I, I’m just afraid that it’ll be like last time.” She muttered in a low voice as she looked at him.
“Dummy.” His large palm stroked her head, “Last time it was something they deliberately made up, it was nothing at all, and I didn’t let go of my principles, we have nothing to be afraid of at all. The investigation team will conduct the investigation according to the leads provided, no one will hastily make a judgement on the basis of the data, there still needs to be an investigation and all.”
“Really?” An Ran was still uncertain, and looked at him with some doubt.
“Of course it’s true.” Su Yi Cheng gave her a definite reply. Then he reached out to stroke her face, as he said to her, “An Ran, trust me, last time that was a mishap, after that lesson, I will never let that same mistake happen again, to let someone take an opportunity to exploit me.”
An Ran looked at him earnestly. A while later, she nodded. She muttered in a low voice, “I actually knew that, and believe you. But I still can’t help but think.”
Su Yi Cheng reached out to pull her into his embrace, his hand patted her, he softly whispers into her ears, “I know, I know.”
“Okay.” An Ran hugged him back, with some strength.
Sometimes the media is such a powerful community, even if many try to hide the news, they will always somehow manage to dig it up. The news about Ling Chuan Jiang being investigated by the disciplinary committee was exposed by ‘Jiang City News’, even about the progress of the investigation, Ling Chuan Jiang’s use of the public office to accept bribery of nearly 5 million yuan, which even involved powerful corporations, that kind of news caused an uproar in the city.
Su Yi Cheng was still busy with Ke Ji City, and the bidding of the project was slowly getting on the right track, so compared to before, he had some time to see people.
However, as Su Yi Cheng was slowly settling down, An Ran, who did not have morning sickness before, suddenly had some morning sickness that acted up, she had no appetite, even smelling would make her gag. At first Auntie Zhang only came once every three days, but now because An Ran’s sickness was so severe, and Su Yi Cheng had to go to work, they could only have Auntie Zhang come over every day to take care of An Ran.
Qin Yun and Lin Xiao Fen also came over every other day to deliver chicken soup. Before, she was fine with drinking chicken soup, but now the smell of it was unbearable, she would run to the bathroom and throw up, scaring Qin Yun and Lin Xiao Fen that they stopped bringing over soup. Qin Yun didn’t know where she had heard it from, but she heard that eating pigeon eggs was good for pregnancy, so instead of bringing over soup she brought over a bag of pigeon eggs, then accompanied An Ran and chatted the entire day. In consideration of Su Yi Cheng being busy due to work, and she was uneasy with An Ran going outside on her own, Lin Xiao Fen would from time to time make An Ran’s favourite food and bring it over.
Pregnancy could really change a person’s preferences, what she loved to eat before, she could not stand the smell of it now, and the things she didn’t like before, she now had this inexplicable craving for them. However in the end she still didn’t have much appetite, her mouth was unenthusiastic, nothing she ate was flavourful. She ate little, and threw up a lot, a week of this, An Ran wasn’t able to gain any weight, but rather thinned a lot. Su Yi Cheng watching this had a frown on his face, full of heartache.
Su Yi Cheng had come back from a dinner party, An Ran was already asleep, her eyes closed as she lied on her side on the bed, her arms on top of his pillow.
Upon seeing her thinning face, his mouth became pointed, and rubbed her face with heartache, then lowered his head to kiss her forehead.
Then he gently lifts up the blanket covering her, put his large palm over her belly, stroked it softly, and whispered, “Baby, don’t torture mommy, daddy feels sorry for her.” As he said that, he gently leaned over, put his ear against her belly, and continued, “You need to eat well, don’t be picky about food, wait when you come out, daddy will buy you lots of delicious food.”
“Hehe….” Laughter came out from above Su Yi Cheng, clear and sweet.
Su Yi Cheng raised his head, then saw that An Ran was already awake. Her eyes wide open staring at him, her face had a smile.
He got up and reached for a kiss, then after a while he released her, reached out and combed away some stray hair. His voice sounded a bit sorry as he said, “Did I wake you up?”
An Ran smiled and shook her head. She looked at the time, and looked at him again with some pity, “So late.”
He doesn’t answer her, and doesn’t go wash up and change, just took off his socks, his coat, and lied down on the bed with his arm around her, so that his chest became her pillow.
He lowered his head and kissed the crown of her head, asked, “Are you still throwing up a lot today?”
Leaned against him, An Ran nodded, and slowly closed her eyes, feeling this inexplicable peace. Suddenly she remembered something, chuckled, and reached out to hit his chest, “Heng heng, it’s all your fault, it’s because of your ‘little sweetheart’ that I’m like this.” She was afraid of hurting him, so she didn’t hit too hard.
Su Yi Cheng muffled a laugh, and drew her into a tighter hug. He admitted his mistake, and said, “Yes, it’s my bad.”
“Forget it, I’ll forgive you, seeing how you apologized wasn’t bad.” Holding back a yawn, a certain someone was deliberately speaking magnanimously. Actually, not only is it his the ‘little sweetheart’ in her belly, it’s also her darling too.
Su Yi Cheng doesn’t refute her, and just followed along, so long as she’s happy. However as he hugged her, he noticed how thin she has become. He couldn’t help but frown. She was obviously pregnant, but she seemed to be even thinner than she was before pregnancy, almost like a bone person.
With some heartache he whispered into her ear and said, “Wife, let’s find a time to go out and play.” Being shut indoors all day must be making her depressed, going out and sightseeing, should pick up her mood, and perhaps may improve her appetite too.
An Ran in his arms was getting sleepy, she hadn’t slept much today, and she had thrown up almost everything she’d eaten this morning, even the smell would send her retching for a while, but not eating made her so very hungry, once she ate she had no appetite. However, for herself and her baby in her belly, she tried her best to eat more, and of course, she vomited more. So, she had been eating and throwing up all day, didn’t even have time to get sleepy, so now she was extremely exhausted.
With weariness, An Ran asked, “Do you have time?” Recently he had been busy, even though not as busy as before, but he doesn’t have much free time, and had to leave for work early morning. Of course, he returns late too, just not as bad as before.
Hearing that, Su Yi Cheng felt guilty, and said, “Sorry, I haven’t had the time to keep you company.” Recently, he truly did not have any time to be with An Ran. They say that during pregnancy women become sensitive and frail, they will often feel lonely, and will need company more than before. But concerning that, he seemed to be doing a bad job, not a qualified husband.
“Silly, you’re struggling for us.” An Ran chuckled. She reached out and pulled on his hand and placed it on her belly, her head rubbed against his chest. Then she slowly closed her eyes, even though she really wanted to talk to him a bit more, but her eyelids were really getting heavy, and the baby in her belly is calling her to sleep.
Su Yi Cheng chuckled, his large palm caressed her belly, the most intimate contact with the baby. A while later he held her and softly says to her, “An Ran, we’ll take a stroll this weekend, look at the mountains, look at the ocean, we’ll go wherever you want, okay?” Accompanying her to relieve boredom, together, it can be considered as him unwinding too.
Su Yi Cheng hugged her, and didn’t hear her answer for a while. He cautiously calls out, “An Ran?”
The person in his arms seemed to have heard him, rubbed her head against his chest, then murmured, “Yi Cheng….” Her voice was not clear, obviously speaking in her sleep.
He then lowered his head, and saw that the person in his arms already had her eyes closed, her little lips slightly open, listening carefully, he could even hear a lovely little snore, faint, gentle. He laughed and shook his head, and lowered his head to give a kiss on her lips. Her top lip closed, the little lips started to pout, it looked so adorable.
He moved as slowly and quietly as possible, slowly drew his arm out of her neck, and gently placed her head on her pillow. Then he quietly lifted the covers up and got off the bed, grabbed a pair of pyjamas from the wardrobe to change into, and went into the bathroom.
The next morning when An Ran woke up again, Su Yi Cheng had already left for work. She came out rubbing her eyes out of the sleepiness, Auntie Zhang was already here. She saw her muddle-headed appearance, and laughed as she said, “Madam, do you want me to heat up your breakfast now, the breakfast was personally done by the mister when I arrived.”
Hearing that, An Ran seemed to clear her head, looked at her and asked, “Yi Cheng made it?” Recently because Auntie Zhang came over every day, and Su Yi Cheng was busy with work, An Ran needed about 8-9 hours of sleep, so Auntie Zhang had been making breakfast for her after waiting for her to wake up.
Auntie Zhang laughed and said, “Yes ah, the mister said that he hadn’t made breakfast for you in a long time, and was afraid that you’d forget the taste of his cooking.” How could she forget the taste of his cooking, it was obvious that he couldn’t stand seeing her lose that much weight, he clearly felt heartache for his wife.
An Ran had a pretty smile on her face, nodded, and said, “I’ll go brush my teeth now.” She turned around and went into the bathroom. She was in a good mood, her voice was in high spirits, even her footsteps were light.
Auntie Zhang was watching her, and laughed. She had been a housekeeper for many years, and had gone through many employers, but very few instances had she seen such a happily married couple, people observing them would be envious.
She laughed as she shook her head, turned around to heat up the cold breakfast, then poured a large glass of milk. Not sure if it was because Su Yi Cheng’s cooking was that great, but after eating his food, An Ran seemed to have a good appetite, after that little breakfast she also managed to get that large glass of fresh milk down. It was really a miracle, she did not vomit, did not even feel nauseous.
The watching Auntie Zhang was a little dumbstruck, even when she was cleaning up the table she couldn’t help but mutter to herself, “So even the little darling in the stomach can recognize their own family’s handiwork, knew that the father had woken up early morning to make it, so did not want to waste his effort, and torment the mother.”
An Ran had heard it and laughed. She looked down on her belly, and rubbed it. It wasn’t the handiwork, it was the intention, she and her baby both valued the breakfast that he had made, so eating it made them especially happy, blessed.
When Lin Li called An Ran had just woken up. She said that she hadn’t seen her in a while, so she’ll come over this evening to talk and eat, they should hang out.
An Ran thought it was okay as well, Su Yi Cheng always came home quite late, and Auntie Zhang would leave after making dinner, so she always ate dinner alone. Besides, she and Lin Li really hadn’t seen each other in a while, ever since being discharged from the hospital, a month had passed since then. Thus, she readily agreed.
In consideration of An Ran’s pregnant state, Lin Li had found a place close to her house, the area was also quite quiet and secluded.
When An Ran arrived, Lin Li wasn’t there yet. She still liked to sit by the window, so she went straight to a window seat. She drank from the glass of water that the waitress brought her, and would look out the window from time to time and watch the people passing by.
The waitress gave her a menu, An Ran looked at it first, but just looking at the pictures of the dishes, An Ran had no appetite for them, instinctively rejected them, somewhat repulsed.
Lin Li energetically rushed over. It looked like she had been running, her hair was messed up by the wind, when she got over to her seat her breath was still unsteady.
Seeing her appearance, An Ran couldn’t help but grumble, “Why were you in such a hurry! Look at you panting, I won’t run away.”
She grabbed the glass of water the waitress had left, and drank half of it, “I didn’t want to make you wait. Traffic was jammed up all the way up to Garden Street, almost died running."
“You can just give me a call.” An Ran said. She can just say that she’d be a little late, she wouldn’t mind waiting a little more.
As she said that, Lin Li gave her a glare, “You’re so certain that you have your cellphone on you.” Did she think that she wanted to run over here, who was the one who forgot to take her phone with her, she called so many times yet no one picked up, made her scared that she’d keep her waiting for too long, so she got off the car half way, and ran over here.
“Ah!” Upon hearing that, An Ran looked through her bag. She indeed did not find her cellphone, then she remembered, before leaving she was afraid it’d be windy, so she grabbed a coat before leaving, while leaving the cellphone on top of the counter. When she left she hadn’t noticed, so she just went out the door without it.
She looked at Lin Li apologetically, and said, “I forgot it at home.”
Lin Li glared at her, and waved her hand, “Whatever, I’ll just consider it as exercise.” After that, she looked at the menu on the table, and asked, “So, did you see anything you like.”
An Ran shook her head, and pushed the menu aside, said, “You can order, I really don’t know what to eat.”
Lin Li looked at her, doesn’t say much, and just looked over tonight’s special. After all, she had been pregnant before, she knew how bad the sickness can be, even if you just look at something you’d have no appetite.
She just chose a few dishes randomly, asked for two bowls of plain rice, and the two girls chatted as they ate.
Today was a good day, even though she didn’t have much appetite, but she didn’t feeling like vomiting either, so An Ran told herself to eat as much as possible, even if she didn’t like it.
Halfway through the meal, Lin Li suddenly thought of something. She quickly took something out of her bag, and passed it over to An Ran saying, “Oh yes, I’m returning the key to you, I already found a place, turns out the company has a dorm arranged for me, and I already handed over the paperwork last week, it had been approved the day before yesterday, so I already moved my stuff into the dormitory.”
“You really have a dorm?” An Ran looked at her, somewhat doubtfully.
Lin Li glared at her, and said, “Of course it’s true, do you not see what our company does, we do real estate, buy houses, don’t tell me they’ll let their employees sleep on the streets ah.”
An Ran gave her a dirty look, but doesn’t say much more. She just reached out and accepted it.
“Gu An Ran.”
Suddenly a voice came up from behind, listening carefully one could hear the anger and unhappiness from their tone.
An Ran and Lin Li turned around at the same time, only to see not too far from them, Ling Lin was looking at them with a face full of anger.
---END OF CHAPTER---
Next Chapter
Tuesday, 9 April 2019
First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 133 Translation
Previous Chapter
133. Goodbyes
With Su Yi Cheng’s assurance, the villagers promised that if the compensation was reasonable, then they will co-operate with the demolition workers, and will not look for trouble.
After sending off the villagers, Su Yi Cheng walked over to the demolition workers. Zhou Han saw him coming over, and was the first to say, “Regarding the damages in this accident, I will be responsible for them.”
Su Yi Cheng looked at him, nodded, and only said, “Then I’ll have to trouble Director Zhou.”
He looked at the staff member behind him, and said, “There are a few things that I would like to emphasize with you guys. I do not want to see an accident like this again.”
“Yes.” Zhou Han nodded, looked at the time, and just said, “Apologies, I still have things back at the company, I’ll have to leave first.”
Su Yi Cheng nodded, doesn’t say much more. Tong Wen Hai seemed to understand the situation, looked at Su Yi Cheng and called out, “Deputy mayor Su.”
Su Yi Cheng turned to look at him, the corner of his mouth rose up. With interest, he says, “Chief Tong.”
Tong Wen Hai seemed uncomfortable by his look, and turned his head to look at the noisy police station, and said, “Every demolition has some sort of incident.”
Su Yi Cheng nodded, and stood beside him, looking in the same direction, hands behind his back, his fingers lightly bouncing. Then he started to speak, “I had just asked those villagers. Apparently they were not satisfied with the compensation money.”
Tong Wen Hai was stumped, his fingers curled up tightly. An expression of uneasiness flashed across his face, he simply said, “As always, the compensation money could never satisfy everyone. They always want more.”
“Is that so?” Su Yi Cheng turned to look at him, “If I recall, Chief Tong, you are responsible for the compensation money, correct?”
Tong Wen Hai shook slightly, very subtly, but did not escape Su Yi Cheng’s eyes.
He turned to look at Su Yi Cheng, and questioned, “What are you trying to say. Are you suspecting me of taking the compensation money?” Both of his hands clenched into a fist, his expression turned into anger, his tone was of dissatisfaction, he was very unhappy with his questioning.
Su Yi Cheng smiled, “I didn’t say anything. Chief Tong, what are you so nervous about?”
Tong Wen Hai turned his head stiffly, doesn’t look at him, and just coldly said, “I am not nervous.”
Su Yi Cheng looked at him in the eyes, faintly smiled and turned around in preparation to leave.
As Su Yi Cheng was about to leave, Secretary Zheng entered, so he asked him, “Has everything been arranged?”
Secretary Zheng nodded, and replied, “Yes, it’s ready.”
Su yi Cheng nodded, and followed out with Secretary Zheng.
But right when Su Yi Cheng was about to leave, Tong Wen Hai suddenly called out from behind, “Wait a minute.”
He turned back to look at him, Su Yi Cheng asked, “Does Chief Tong still need something?”
Tong Wen Hai stared at him for a while, and unnaturally asked, “An Ran, is An Ran alright?”
Su Yi Cheng’s face turned cold, a distant smile replaced a cold one, and just coldly said, “Whether she is alright or not has nothing to do with Chief Tong.” After speaking, he doesn’t look at him, and just departs.
Beside him, Secretary Zheng did not understand the situation, and took a curious glance at Tong Wen Hai. He nodded at him, and turned around to follow Su Yi Cheng out.
Su Yi Cheng’s complexion was not good, it seemed as if the cold expression on his face could freeze everything within a meter. When they got to the entrance, Secretary Zheng could not contain his curiosity anymore, and asked, “Mayor Su, just now you and Chief Tong---”
Secretary Zheng had not finished asking his question, but upon seeing Su Yi Cheng’s look at him, that expression was absolutely not good, it was sharp and made people cautious. Secretary Zheng felt uneasy with that look, and just awkwardly smiled and said, “No-nothing.”
Su Yi Cheng then looked away, and walked several steps, when he suddenly paused.
“What’s wrong?” Secretary Zheng was confused.
He was silent for a while, and only heard Su Yi Cheng say, “Investigate the transfer behind the demolition money. While you’re at it find out who Tong Wen Hai has been speaking to lately.”
Secretary Zheng was confused with the intention, but still nodded and replied, “Yes, I got it.”
When Su Yi Cheng made the call to An Ran, she was with Auntie Zhang learning how to make cupcakes, and told her that she will accompany him to this evening’s dinner party, to celebrate Secretary Zhang’s* birthday. It’s an evening dinner, there won't be too much people, only some committee members and leaders were invited to his home for a simple meal, no need to dress up, and no need to give presents.
*credits to Ella: Council Secretary Zhang and his wife Mrs Zhang, old friends of Su family and also a powerful man, different person from Su Yi Cheng's assistant Secretary Zheng*
Mrs. Zhang had specifically asked Su Yi Cheng to bring An Ran over. As a matter of fact, the Zhang family and the Su family were long time family friends, the two families had known each other for over thirty years. A long time ago Secretary Zhang and Su Wen Qing were comrade in arms, only Secretary Zhang became a professional out of the army, then step by step got to today’s position.
However, the relation between the two families did not break, Qin Yi and Mrs. Zhang were best friends, sometimes they would frequently see each other, and Su Yi Cheng, the Zhang family did not have children, so they considered him as their own. Now that Su Yi Cheng suddenly got married, did not have a wedding or a dinner, and Su Yi Cheng’s work was busy, it seemed as if An Ran had been hidden away. She always wanted to see her, but never had the chance to, so she borrowed this event as an opportunity, and specifically told Su Yi Cheng to bring An Ran with him.
Even though there was no need to dress up, but when Su Yi Cheng got home she was already changed, wearing a light pink Western-style dress. The dress was nothing too unusual, but it really showed off An Ran’s gentle manner, her long hair trailed down, without decorations.
Su Yi Cheng smiled and walked over to her, then whispers into her ears, “Really pretty.”
An Ran was bashful, and lowered her head. When she looked up again she grumbled at him, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier, I would have prepared a present or something. With such short notice, I haven’t had the time to buy a gift.”
Su Yi Cheng chuckled and pulled her hand towards the door, while saying, “Doesn’t matter, Secretary Zhang and Mrs. Zhang won’t mind.”
“It’s embarrassing ah, the birthday person is inviting you, we shouldn’t come empty handed. Aren’t we just freeloading.” An Ran muttered.
“It’s okay, Mrs. Zhang said so, to just bring you over.” Su Yi Cheng held her hands tightly, and stood with her in front of the elevator and waited.
An Ran frowned, she turned to ask him, “Huh? Am I the present?”
Why did it sound so weird.
“Haha.” Su Yi Cheng laughed out loud, and pulled her into the elevator.
The dinner was held at Secretary Zhang’s home. When Su Yi Cheng and An Ran arrived, there were a lot of people in the living room. Most of them were committee members and group leaders, seeing Su Yi Cheng come over, they got up to greet him. They saw An Ran standing behind him, and all said Su Yi Cheng must have a magnificent house, silently hiding away such a beautiful wife, such a treasure that he wouldn’t even bring An Ran to dinner parties. Today would be due to Secretary Zhang’s fortune, finally they could see the person.
Mrs. Zhang came into the room with fruits, seeing Su Yi Cheng’s wife, her face immediately blossomed a happy smile. She put down the fruits in her hands and pulled An Ran left and right to look at her, continually nodding.
An Ran was a little uncomfortable, and looked at Su Yi Cheng, only to see him smiling and nodding at her. She suddenly felt at ease right then, knowing that he’s here, not too far from her.
She followed Mrs. Zhang who pulled her to the side, and the two chatted for a bit.
In reality there weren’t much people tonight, all together there was only a table of people. Ling Chuan Jiang was the last to arrive, and came just in time for the meal. He turned and gave Su Yi Cheng a meaningful look, then started his meal.
Tonight’s dishes were homemade, but each one was made from the heart, each one was made personally by Mrs. Zhang, who even shooed the housekeeper away. Even though tonight was a feast, there was no alcohol on the table, mainly because Secretary Zhang had just been discharged from the hospital, and the doctor instructed, that from now on he has to stop smoking and drinking, so Mrs. Zhang immediately ordered a smoking and drinking ban at home.
An Ran sat beside Mrs. Zhang, and to the left of Su Yi Cheng. Because she knew that An Ran was pregnant, Mrs. Zhang had specially boiled chicken soup for An Ran. Everyone was happily eating and drinking, the housekeeper came running in and whispered something to Secretary Zhang. Secretary Zhang frowned, and nodded toward the housekeeper, and said, “Let him in.”
Everyone seemed to see something, and the atmosphere immediately calmed down.
Someone asked, “Secretary, what’s going on?”
Secretary Zhang shook his head, and doesn’t say anything.
An Ran turned to look at Su Yi Cheng, only seeing a faint smile directed at her. Under the table, he reached out to hold her hand.
Not a minute later, Yan Li came in, smiling as he looked at Secretary Zhang, “Lao Zhang ah, why did you not invite me to your birthday.”
Secretary Zhang looked at him, and just said, “I would not have invited you. If I did, everyone around me will have bad luck. It is enough that you watch me everyday.” Yan Li laughed out loud, and said, “I guess so, today I wish to have a drink with you, but I’m really here for trouble.” With that, he turned to look at the members of the committee.
Landing upon Su Yi Cheng, time seemed to stop. An Ran was still apprehensive, looking at Yan Li, Su Yi Cheng’s hands couldn’t help but tighten underneath the table.
Su Yi Cheng turned to look at her, and patted her hand, gave her an assuring smile.
Yan Li finally stopped his gaze at Ling Chuan Jiang, seeing him, he had a smile yet not a smile, and said, “Mayor Ling, how about it, come take a walk with me.”
Ling Chuan Jiang stared at him, not rising. A while later he says, “I don’t understand why Leader Yan has come here to find me.”
“Well it’s not good to say things here, why don’t you come take a walk with me. My people are outside waiting.” Yan Li replied coldly.
Ling Chuan Jiang looked at him silently in his seat for a while, then slowly got up and followed him out. Only when he had passed Su Yi Cheng he stopped and said, “You ruthless bastard."*
---END OF CHAPTER---
*thank you Joe for correcting me.. That was a huge mistranslation on my part.
Next Chapter
133. Goodbyes
With Su Yi Cheng’s assurance, the villagers promised that if the compensation was reasonable, then they will co-operate with the demolition workers, and will not look for trouble.
After sending off the villagers, Su Yi Cheng walked over to the demolition workers. Zhou Han saw him coming over, and was the first to say, “Regarding the damages in this accident, I will be responsible for them.”
Su Yi Cheng looked at him, nodded, and only said, “Then I’ll have to trouble Director Zhou.”
He looked at the staff member behind him, and said, “There are a few things that I would like to emphasize with you guys. I do not want to see an accident like this again.”
“Yes.” Zhou Han nodded, looked at the time, and just said, “Apologies, I still have things back at the company, I’ll have to leave first.”
Su Yi Cheng nodded, doesn’t say much more. Tong Wen Hai seemed to understand the situation, looked at Su Yi Cheng and called out, “Deputy mayor Su.”
Su Yi Cheng turned to look at him, the corner of his mouth rose up. With interest, he says, “Chief Tong.”
Tong Wen Hai seemed uncomfortable by his look, and turned his head to look at the noisy police station, and said, “Every demolition has some sort of incident.”
Su Yi Cheng nodded, and stood beside him, looking in the same direction, hands behind his back, his fingers lightly bouncing. Then he started to speak, “I had just asked those villagers. Apparently they were not satisfied with the compensation money.”
Tong Wen Hai was stumped, his fingers curled up tightly. An expression of uneasiness flashed across his face, he simply said, “As always, the compensation money could never satisfy everyone. They always want more.”
“Is that so?” Su Yi Cheng turned to look at him, “If I recall, Chief Tong, you are responsible for the compensation money, correct?”
Tong Wen Hai shook slightly, very subtly, but did not escape Su Yi Cheng’s eyes.
He turned to look at Su Yi Cheng, and questioned, “What are you trying to say. Are you suspecting me of taking the compensation money?” Both of his hands clenched into a fist, his expression turned into anger, his tone was of dissatisfaction, he was very unhappy with his questioning.
Su Yi Cheng smiled, “I didn’t say anything. Chief Tong, what are you so nervous about?”
Tong Wen Hai turned his head stiffly, doesn’t look at him, and just coldly said, “I am not nervous.”
Su Yi Cheng looked at him in the eyes, faintly smiled and turned around in preparation to leave.
As Su Yi Cheng was about to leave, Secretary Zheng entered, so he asked him, “Has everything been arranged?”
Secretary Zheng nodded, and replied, “Yes, it’s ready.”
Su yi Cheng nodded, and followed out with Secretary Zheng.
But right when Su Yi Cheng was about to leave, Tong Wen Hai suddenly called out from behind, “Wait a minute.”
He turned back to look at him, Su Yi Cheng asked, “Does Chief Tong still need something?”
Tong Wen Hai stared at him for a while, and unnaturally asked, “An Ran, is An Ran alright?”
Su Yi Cheng’s face turned cold, a distant smile replaced a cold one, and just coldly said, “Whether she is alright or not has nothing to do with Chief Tong.” After speaking, he doesn’t look at him, and just departs.
Beside him, Secretary Zheng did not understand the situation, and took a curious glance at Tong Wen Hai. He nodded at him, and turned around to follow Su Yi Cheng out.
Su Yi Cheng’s complexion was not good, it seemed as if the cold expression on his face could freeze everything within a meter. When they got to the entrance, Secretary Zheng could not contain his curiosity anymore, and asked, “Mayor Su, just now you and Chief Tong---”
Secretary Zheng had not finished asking his question, but upon seeing Su Yi Cheng’s look at him, that expression was absolutely not good, it was sharp and made people cautious. Secretary Zheng felt uneasy with that look, and just awkwardly smiled and said, “No-nothing.”
Su Yi Cheng then looked away, and walked several steps, when he suddenly paused.
“What’s wrong?” Secretary Zheng was confused.
He was silent for a while, and only heard Su Yi Cheng say, “Investigate the transfer behind the demolition money. While you’re at it find out who Tong Wen Hai has been speaking to lately.”
Secretary Zheng was confused with the intention, but still nodded and replied, “Yes, I got it.”
When Su Yi Cheng made the call to An Ran, she was with Auntie Zhang learning how to make cupcakes, and told her that she will accompany him to this evening’s dinner party, to celebrate Secretary Zhang’s* birthday. It’s an evening dinner, there won't be too much people, only some committee members and leaders were invited to his home for a simple meal, no need to dress up, and no need to give presents.
*credits to Ella: Council Secretary Zhang and his wife Mrs Zhang, old friends of Su family and also a powerful man, different person from Su Yi Cheng's assistant Secretary Zheng*
Mrs. Zhang had specifically asked Su Yi Cheng to bring An Ran over. As a matter of fact, the Zhang family and the Su family were long time family friends, the two families had known each other for over thirty years. A long time ago Secretary Zhang and Su Wen Qing were comrade in arms, only Secretary Zhang became a professional out of the army, then step by step got to today’s position.
However, the relation between the two families did not break, Qin Yi and Mrs. Zhang were best friends, sometimes they would frequently see each other, and Su Yi Cheng, the Zhang family did not have children, so they considered him as their own. Now that Su Yi Cheng suddenly got married, did not have a wedding or a dinner, and Su Yi Cheng’s work was busy, it seemed as if An Ran had been hidden away. She always wanted to see her, but never had the chance to, so she borrowed this event as an opportunity, and specifically told Su Yi Cheng to bring An Ran with him.
Even though there was no need to dress up, but when Su Yi Cheng got home she was already changed, wearing a light pink Western-style dress. The dress was nothing too unusual, but it really showed off An Ran’s gentle manner, her long hair trailed down, without decorations.
Su Yi Cheng smiled and walked over to her, then whispers into her ears, “Really pretty.”
An Ran was bashful, and lowered her head. When she looked up again she grumbled at him, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier, I would have prepared a present or something. With such short notice, I haven’t had the time to buy a gift.”
Su Yi Cheng chuckled and pulled her hand towards the door, while saying, “Doesn’t matter, Secretary Zhang and Mrs. Zhang won’t mind.”
“It’s embarrassing ah, the birthday person is inviting you, we shouldn’t come empty handed. Aren’t we just freeloading.” An Ran muttered.
“It’s okay, Mrs. Zhang said so, to just bring you over.” Su Yi Cheng held her hands tightly, and stood with her in front of the elevator and waited.
An Ran frowned, she turned to ask him, “Huh? Am I the present?”
Why did it sound so weird.
“Haha.” Su Yi Cheng laughed out loud, and pulled her into the elevator.
The dinner was held at Secretary Zhang’s home. When Su Yi Cheng and An Ran arrived, there were a lot of people in the living room. Most of them were committee members and group leaders, seeing Su Yi Cheng come over, they got up to greet him. They saw An Ran standing behind him, and all said Su Yi Cheng must have a magnificent house, silently hiding away such a beautiful wife, such a treasure that he wouldn’t even bring An Ran to dinner parties. Today would be due to Secretary Zhang’s fortune, finally they could see the person.
Mrs. Zhang came into the room with fruits, seeing Su Yi Cheng’s wife, her face immediately blossomed a happy smile. She put down the fruits in her hands and pulled An Ran left and right to look at her, continually nodding.
An Ran was a little uncomfortable, and looked at Su Yi Cheng, only to see him smiling and nodding at her. She suddenly felt at ease right then, knowing that he’s here, not too far from her.
She followed Mrs. Zhang who pulled her to the side, and the two chatted for a bit.
In reality there weren’t much people tonight, all together there was only a table of people. Ling Chuan Jiang was the last to arrive, and came just in time for the meal. He turned and gave Su Yi Cheng a meaningful look, then started his meal.
Tonight’s dishes were homemade, but each one was made from the heart, each one was made personally by Mrs. Zhang, who even shooed the housekeeper away. Even though tonight was a feast, there was no alcohol on the table, mainly because Secretary Zhang had just been discharged from the hospital, and the doctor instructed, that from now on he has to stop smoking and drinking, so Mrs. Zhang immediately ordered a smoking and drinking ban at home.
An Ran sat beside Mrs. Zhang, and to the left of Su Yi Cheng. Because she knew that An Ran was pregnant, Mrs. Zhang had specially boiled chicken soup for An Ran. Everyone was happily eating and drinking, the housekeeper came running in and whispered something to Secretary Zhang. Secretary Zhang frowned, and nodded toward the housekeeper, and said, “Let him in.”
Everyone seemed to see something, and the atmosphere immediately calmed down.
Someone asked, “Secretary, what’s going on?”
Secretary Zhang shook his head, and doesn’t say anything.
An Ran turned to look at Su Yi Cheng, only seeing a faint smile directed at her. Under the table, he reached out to hold her hand.
Not a minute later, Yan Li came in, smiling as he looked at Secretary Zhang, “Lao Zhang ah, why did you not invite me to your birthday.”
Secretary Zhang looked at him, and just said, “I would not have invited you. If I did, everyone around me will have bad luck. It is enough that you watch me everyday.” Yan Li laughed out loud, and said, “I guess so, today I wish to have a drink with you, but I’m really here for trouble.” With that, he turned to look at the members of the committee.
Landing upon Su Yi Cheng, time seemed to stop. An Ran was still apprehensive, looking at Yan Li, Su Yi Cheng’s hands couldn’t help but tighten underneath the table.
Su Yi Cheng turned to look at her, and patted her hand, gave her an assuring smile.
Yan Li finally stopped his gaze at Ling Chuan Jiang, seeing him, he had a smile yet not a smile, and said, “Mayor Ling, how about it, come take a walk with me.”
Ling Chuan Jiang stared at him, not rising. A while later he says, “I don’t understand why Leader Yan has come here to find me.”
“Well it’s not good to say things here, why don’t you come take a walk with me. My people are outside waiting.” Yan Li replied coldly.
Ling Chuan Jiang looked at him silently in his seat for a while, then slowly got up and followed him out. Only when he had passed Su Yi Cheng he stopped and said, “You ruthless bastard."*
---END OF CHAPTER---
*thank you Joe for correcting me.. That was a huge mistranslation on my part.
Next Chapter
Tuesday, 2 April 2019
Chapter Updates
Hey guys,
So some of you guys want to know what my updating schedule will be like from now on. I try to get at least one out every month, but that is all I can really promise. It takes me a little longer to translate stuff since I am not fluent in Mandarin, and I rely on using a dictionary for my translations. I can't predict what things will pop up in life, and so far it's been hectic for me. Hopefully it'll calm down this month, but who knows.
I'll have the next chapter up soon guys, thanks for waiting,
Anna
So some of you guys want to know what my updating schedule will be like from now on. I try to get at least one out every month, but that is all I can really promise. It takes me a little longer to translate stuff since I am not fluent in Mandarin, and I rely on using a dictionary for my translations. I can't predict what things will pop up in life, and so far it's been hectic for me. Hopefully it'll calm down this month, but who knows.
I'll have the next chapter up soon guys, thanks for waiting,
Anna
Saturday, 16 March 2019
First Marriage Then Love 《先婚厚爱》Chapter 132 Translation
Previous Chapter
132. Demolition Accidents
Xiao Xiao looked at her. She seemed to be moved, bit on her lip, and asked, “Don’t you hate me?”
She looked at her, and nodded honestly, “If I said I didn’t, that would be pretentious.” There isn’t anyone who wouldn’t have negative feelings against the person who had framed you.
Xiao Xiao nodded, and looked at her without speaking.
“Madam, dinner is ready. Do you want to eat now?” Auntie Zhang asked over the counter. She had overheard that An Ran wanted this woman to stay for dinner.
An Ran nodded, and said, “Yes. Let’s eat now.” She turned back, looked at Xiao Xiao, and said, “Stay for a meal.”
Xiao Xiao looked at her, and doesn’t say anything for a while. Finally she shook her head, and only gently said, “It’s okay.” After that, she stood up, with an odd look on her face. She still did not forget to express her thanks, “Today, thank you!” After that, she turned around and left, limping with her injured leg.
An Ran did not persist, but still offered to walk her to the entrance. When they got to the entrance, Xiao Xiao turned to face her, and looked down on her clothes, “These clothes...”
“Return them whenever you have the time.” An Ran said.
Xiao Xiao nodded, doesn’t say much more, and left.
Su Yi Cheng returned the evening after. Upon coming home An Ran was in the midst of her afternoon nap, when she was awakened by a kiss.
In her daze, she saw a handsome face, with some visible tiredness. His eye bags were dark, clearly he did not sleep well.
An Ran looked at him, with heartache she rubbed his face, and gently said, “You’re back.”
“Yes.” Su Yi Cheng nodded, and grabbed her hand to kiss it.
She moved to the side, and made room on the bed. She asked, “Do you want to get some sleep?”
Su Yi Cheng shook his head, “I still have some business. There’s a dinner party tonight, I’ll probably be gone until late.”
An Ran frowned, “That’s just exhausting.”
Su Yi Cheng smiled, and just reached out to stroke her face. His large palm stroke across her delicate skin, and he faintly said, “Don’t wait for me. If you’re tired just sleep early.”
She knew that this was the nature of his work, so An Ran had no choice. She sits up from the bed, and could only nod at him. She reminded him, “Don’t drink too much, and come home early.”
Su Yi Cheng stroke her head, and went to the closet to take a change of clothes, then went straight the bathroom and changed. When he came out again An Ran was up. Seeing him come out, she grabbed his tie and went up to him, stood on her tippy-toes to do his tie. After she adjusted it, she smoothed out his clothes.
She went with him to the door, and Su Yi Cheng left some kisses on her face, then turned to leave.
From behind, Auntie Zhang who was cleaning had been watching, and teasingly looked at An Ran, “Mister and Missus are very affectionate.”
An Ran blushed, and excused herself to the studio.
That day, Su Yi Cheng came home really late. An Ran originally wanted to wait for him in the living room, watching television as she waited for him. But as she was watching she fell asleep, and after waking up from that nap, he still wasn’t back, and it was almost midnight at that time. There weren’t any programs to watch, and she waited in the living room for half an hour more. She ultimately did not persist and went back to the room. When she lied down at first she wanted to try her best to stay awake, but her lids got heavier and heavier until she fell asleep in the end.
Unknown to when he had came home, when she woke up the next day she found herself to be his arms like usual, only he seemed to be very tired, that he did not wake up by her movement. It was a rare chance for her to make breakfast while he was still asleep. She hadn’t finished making breakfast yet, when he came out from the room after showering and changing, carrying a briefcase in his hand.
An Ran quickly put down the egg that had not yet been fully fried, and went around the counter running. She faced him and asked, “You’re going already? Have some breakfast first.”
Su Yi Cheng raised his arm and looked at the time. He shook his head somewhat apologetically, “I have a meeting this morning, if I don’t go now I’m afraid I’ll be late.”
An Ran was somewhat worried about this body of his with high intensity of working without eating. She asked, “Has it been busy recently?”
Su Yi Cheng smiled, reached out to stroke her trailing long hair, and said, “Sorry, I haven’t had the time to keep you company.”
An Ran lowered her head, with her left hand grasping her right, she muttered, “I’m not a child, why would I need you to keep me company every day.” She was just worried for him. Before when she was hospitalized, he came to the hospital every day, work, hospital, home, running to all three places. Now these past few days he’s on business trips, dinner parties, meetings. She was really worried that his body wouldn’t endure, and she can see his tiredness and exhaustion, how could she not have some heartache.
Su Yi Cheng reached out to hug her, and gently patted her back. He whispered softly into her ears, “It’s almost over, after this spell of business, I’ll try to find the time to be with you and the baby, alright?”
“I don’t want your company.” An Ran reached out and hugged him back, “If you are busy after this period, then let me stay at home and rest, I don’t want to go out.” She doesn’t need him to accompany them, she and her baby can both keep him company.
Su Yi Cheng chuckles and kissed her forehead. He raised his arm again and looked at the time. Releasing her, “I really have to go now.” Otherwise he really will be late.
An Ran nodded, and accompanied him out the door. She cautioned him, “Drive slowly.”
“yes.” He lovingly rubbed her head, and said, “Remember to eat breakfast.”
An Ran chuckled and answered affirmatively, then she watched him enter the elevator.
After sending Su Yi Cheng out, An Ran returned to the kitchen, she took the half-fried egg in the pan and cooked it for about 7 or 8 minutes more then placed it on the prepared plates. She grabbed the toast out of the toaster, and poured herself a cup of milk, and microwaved it for a minute, then made her way around the counter carrying her breakfast and ate. Actually it didn’t taste too bad. These past two days she had learned how to cook with Auntie Zhang, and it was much better to learn from a person than from a book. When she cooked from a cookbook none of them came out tasting as they should, having Auntie Zhang beside her to show her, the steps were the same, but the result was much better.
Only, having no one to accompany you while you eat, even the tastiest food will taste bland. She stared at the plate of food beside her. An Ran had no appetite at all.
Su Yi Cheng had been constantly busy these past few days. Not only is the bidding for Ke Ji City still ongoing, he had handed over the material to the provincial Party committee, so these past two days people have been coming to find him to discuss about it. Earlier in the morning while they were discussing over a new round of bidding, they received a phone call from outside, saying that there was a problem with the demolition of the old North district. The accident wasn’t grave, but an elderly and two children had been sent to the hospital, and some villagers and workers had been brought to the police station. The incident soon alerted the media in Jiang City.
With regards to relocating the inhabitants and the demolition and construction of the old district, there were a few homeowners who refused to move, some because they were attached to the land, some because they were not satisfied with the consolation terms of the demolition.
In fact, the root of this accident was not complicated, today the workers carried out the compulsory demolition, but there were a few households that were not vacated. The demolition worker went to find them to discuss it peacefully first, but very soon the conflict of words turned physical. Not a few words later, the worker and the homeowner were fist to fist, and while fighting, injured an innocent elderly who tried to intervene and mediate and the children who were watching.
When the old man was pushed he fell to the ground, blood flowed out from his head, and sound of children’s cries could be heard soon after. These enraged the angry villagers even more, the conflict on both side intensified, the scene could not be controlled anymore, finally some scared person called the police. At the scene the police arrested the people who started the conflict, and the injured elderly and children were rushed to the nearest hospital.
This incident was quickly known to reporters and the media, who got to the scene of the accident and the hospital before Su Yi Cheng and his team got there.
Su Yi Cheng and the staff in charge of the construction of Ke Ji City, upon getting the call, rushed to the hospital where the injured elderly and children were at.
Thus, when Su Yi Cheng reached the hospital, he hadn’t entered the emergency room yet, but began to be swarmed with reporters.
“Deputy Mayor Su, you are the mayor of the construction of Ke Ji City, regarding this incident, what do you think about it?” A female journalist rushed to face Su Yi Cheng, walking while asking.
Su Yi Cheng glanced at her, and frowned. He only said, “Let me see the injured elderly and children first.”
Those reporters still wanted to say something, but was obstructed by Secretary Zheng, “Everybody, please wait and we will do an interview later.”
Since he put it that way, the journalists didn’t say much more, and entered the ER with Su Yi Cheng.
The elder had to get 10 stitches on his head, right now there was one person lying on the hospital bed, beside him was a 60 year old wife, the children or relatives of the elderly were not to be seen. On the bed beside them, were two children. They seemed young, the boy was perhaps 8 or 9 at the most, the girl seemed to be about 6 or 7 years old. Their eyes opened at that moment, and there was no one else who were taking care of them, no parents.
Su Yi Cheng sat in front of the bed, he reached out to hold the elderly’s hand, and asked about his condition. He felt somewhat guilty, with a heavy heart he looked at him and said, “Old man*, you’ve suffered.” Coming across such a situation at this old age, it is something they should not have to meet.
“That house is our foundation, how could you guys tear it down!” The old man on the bed, looked at Su Yi Cheng with red eyes, brimming with tears.
“Old man, the demolition is for development, so that our future generations will have a better living environment, building a more convenient life and condition for them. I know that you have attachment to that place, we also have some attachment for that place too, but attachment cannot fight everything, the nation demands development and growth, cities want construction, only with development, will our livelihood be better, don’t you think so as well?” Su Yi Cheng held his hands, spoke earnestly.
The old man looked at him. After a while, he said, “But to tear down our house, where will we live?”
“We have given out consolation money, if you don’t want to accept it that is fine, in the future when the residences are finished with its construction, the government will allocate the houses according to every household’s condition, until that time if the house is in the same place, then it can be considered that we replaced the old house with a new house, if you cannot find a suitable residence, then we can find you a suitable place, as close to this area as possible.” Su Yi Cheng promised him.
“Really?” The old man was reluctant to believe in him.
Su Yi Cheng solemnly said, “I assure you.” His expression was conscientious and earnest.
He stared at him for a while, then the old man seriously said, “Then I believe in you!”
Su Yi Cheng nodded, told him that he needed to rest well, then told the old man’s wife that she needs to take good care of the old man.
Then he turned around to the other hospital beds, where the two children laid. With their eyes wide open, black and white, they looked especially clear. Medicine was applied on the wound on their forehead, their hands and feet were bounded with gauze, looking at it one can’t help but feel heartache.
He reached out to stroke their head, Su Yi Cheng softly asked, “Little child, tell uncle, what are your names?”
The two children stared at Su Yi Cheng, as if they were reading him. After a while the boy slowly started to speak in a low voice, “I am Mu Tou, the older brother.”
The girl beside him also replied in a soft voice, “My name is Deng Zi, the younger sister.”
Su Yi Cheng smiled at them, and with a gentle voice he softly asked, “Why didn’t you guys go to school today?”
“Dad said that someone was coming to smash the house.” Mu Tou said.
“Mom said to stay at home to protect the house.” Deng Zi replied. “Mom said those people won’t hit children, if someone is smashing, we have to hold onto their thighs and not let them in.”
Having heard that, Su Yi Cheng frowned. He could not understand these childrens’ parents, why put your children in the middle of these matters. Children should be happy, carefree and without worries, shouldn’t they?
He reached out and once again lovingly stroke their head, then silently got up, turned around to face Secretary Zheng, “Go buy some nourishments for the elderly and the children, put it on my bill.”
Secretary Zheng nodded, and turned to leave the emergency room.
Su Yi Cheng reminded the doctor and nurses, that they must treat the injuries of the elderly man and the children well, specially instructing the nurse to feed the children. He helped them wipe their faces, then left the emergency room. The media surrounded him, and Su Yi Cheng frowned. He lowered his voice and said, “Let’s go out and speak, let’s not make noise while the patients are resting.”
Everyone silently withdrew, but were also moved by the attentiveness of this young deputy mayor.
They walked towards the hospital’s lounge, Su Yi Cheng then accepted their interview.
“Deputy Mayor Su, what are your thoughts regarding this accident?”
“I am very saddened by this, especially knowing that an elderly and children were injured. The obstructions and tribulations that come along with demolitions and constructions we were prepared for them, we paid attention to the general situation, so it is expected that not everyone will be pleased. However, in this circumstance where an old man and children were pushed to the front, I myself feel that is unacceptable!” Su Yi Cheng said.
“What about this accident, Deputy Mayor Su, how are you intending to deal with this, will the construction continue to advance? If the villagers are still against the demolition, does that mean that you will have to revert to coercive means?” Another reporter asked pointedly.
Su Yi Cheng turned to look at him, fixedly looked at his mouth and said, “The demolition of the old district is for the purpose of Jiang City’s development, this is beneficial for the common people, thus the demolition and construction will proceed. Regarding your question about using coercive means, I will affirm first, our government is not a violent organization, in fact, these are things that we and the villagers are lacking in communication and understanding. I believe that after we communicate the common people will realize that our demolition is used for the better development of the future, this problem will be settled very well.” With that, he took a step forward intending to go, “That is all I want to say, I welcome you to follow up on this matter.”
“Deputy Mayor Su, I heard that some time ago you were called in by the disciplinary committee to talk, according to our information, they said you received gifts nearly worth millions, from a company’s executive, is that true?”
When he saw that he was leaving, one of the reporters rushed up to him and asked, looking at him pointedly.
He paused his step. Su Yi Cheng turned to look at him and took note of him. He faintly smiled and said, “Your information is very well-informed ah.”
He was somewhat shaken up by his look, squeezed his hand around the mic, and asked again, “Can you please answer my question just now Deputy Mayor Su.”
Su Yi Cheng nodded, and said, “I have indeed been asked by the committee to cooperate with the investigation, but if the things you said were valid, do you think I would still be standing here taking your interview?”
“Uh.” The reporter froze, then immediately responded with, “In other words you are saying that you did not accept gifts from some company’s executive?”
Su Yi Cheng looked him in the eye and said, “I have never accepted anyone’s gifts.” With that, he did not want to talk to them any longer, and headed straight to the hospital’s entrance. He still had to go to the police station to take a look at these rioting villagers and staff members.
By the Su Yi Cheng had arrived at the police station Tong Wen Hai had beat him to the punch and got there first. When they entered the station they found out something else, the other unexpected thing was that, Zhou Han was also there with a group of demolition workers to get an understanding of the situation. However, thinking about it, Zhou Han’s company was the developer of this project, seeing him here, is reasonable and nothing to be surprised about.
In the interrogation room, several villagers were yelling and quarreling about, even the policewoman could not control the scene.
Su Yi Cheng let the policewoman withdraw, and stood in between the worked-up villagers. He wasn’t in a rush to bring up the issue of the demolition and construction, and first asked, “Are the elderly’s children and Mu Tou and Deng Zi’s parents here?”
A middle-aged woman was the first to speak out, “I, I am Mu Tou and Deng Zi’s mother.”
Another middle-aged man came forward, “I am Liu Da Cheng’s son.”
Su Yi Cheng frowned, and looked at them for a while, then said, “You guys should go to the hospital first, the elderly and the children will need someone to take care of them.”
“The issue with the demolition and construction hasn’t been settled yet, we are not going anywhere.” The man insisted.
The woman hesitated, but ultimately agreed, “Right, you need to give everyone an explanation, why are you guys tearing down our homes.”
Su Yi Cheng frowned even more, and strictly said, “Your father and children are in the hospital, don’t tell me a house is more important than them?”
The man and woman both froze, they were both speechless.
Su Yi Cheng took a quick glance at everyone. This time he slowed down his speech and said, “You guys first go to the hospital, speaking with them here or them going back to tell you guys, what is the difference.” Hearing him put it like that, the old man’s son and the children's mother, then nodded their heads and left for the hospital first.
Su Yi Cheng looked at the group of villagers, still with anger, and said, “For the urban construction, the demolitions, all of this is for the purpose of the city’s growth, it is a good thing, why must you guys resist the demolition and relocation, do you not want to live in a better and more comfortable environment. Moreover, having a city develop is good, the city’s reputation for living environment will be better, is it not like that?”
“What growth and what construction, we don’t understand. These are all things that you officials say, you guys don’t care about the common people’s interest, right now you say that you want to tear down the houses, and give us this little money, nowadays the housing prices are higher than the sky, with this small amount, where do you guys want us to live? Without a house, do you guys want us to sleep on the streets!” A voice amongst crowd said.
“Exactly, you guys say it is for us common people, in what world are you guys thinking of the common people?” Another person agreed.
“Right, with such a small amount, our houses will not be torn down, if you guys really want to tear it down, you will have to do it over our bodies!”
“Yes, yes, you don’t tear down!” Everyone seemed to be worked up, looking at the mood they seemed as if they would eat people.
Su Yi Cheng frowned even more. According to his knowledge, the compensation money was not little. He asked, “How much did you guys receive?”
“700 000 per household.” A person replied. “Nowadays the housing prices are so high, what kind of house will 700 000 buy! You guys are forcing us, driving us away!”
“Indeed, indeed…” The crowd echoed.
Su Yi Cheng’s heart sank. According to his knowledge the compensation money absolutely cannot be lower than a million... However they said that they only received 700 000, then clearly someone had long been carrying out the plan. He raised his hand to calm the crowd, Su Yi Cheng spoke, “There must be some misunderstanding. Regarding this matter, I will definitely give you guys an explanation.”
“Do your words matter?” Someone asked.
“Yes, I am the person in charge of Ke Ji City’s construction. If I said I would give everyone an explanation I will definitely give everyone an explanation!” Su Yi Cheng promised.
The villagers looked at each other, after a while a representative spoke out, “Everyone here only wants shelter, if the development is truly for our benefit how could we not cooperate. Only, this situation is forcing us into a dead end, we also have no choice. We can believe in you this one time, but if it is still like this afterwards, we will definitely not move.”
Su Yi Cheng nodded, and ensured them, “I will be responsible for everyone.”
*polite term for old man or woman
---END OF CHAPTER---
Woot woot, Su Yi Cheng is here to carry out justice.
132. Demolition Accidents
Xiao Xiao looked at her. She seemed to be moved, bit on her lip, and asked, “Don’t you hate me?”
She looked at her, and nodded honestly, “If I said I didn’t, that would be pretentious.” There isn’t anyone who wouldn’t have negative feelings against the person who had framed you.
Xiao Xiao nodded, and looked at her without speaking.
“Madam, dinner is ready. Do you want to eat now?” Auntie Zhang asked over the counter. She had overheard that An Ran wanted this woman to stay for dinner.
An Ran nodded, and said, “Yes. Let’s eat now.” She turned back, looked at Xiao Xiao, and said, “Stay for a meal.”
Xiao Xiao looked at her, and doesn’t say anything for a while. Finally she shook her head, and only gently said, “It’s okay.” After that, she stood up, with an odd look on her face. She still did not forget to express her thanks, “Today, thank you!” After that, she turned around and left, limping with her injured leg.
An Ran did not persist, but still offered to walk her to the entrance. When they got to the entrance, Xiao Xiao turned to face her, and looked down on her clothes, “These clothes...”
“Return them whenever you have the time.” An Ran said.
Xiao Xiao nodded, doesn’t say much more, and left.
Su Yi Cheng returned the evening after. Upon coming home An Ran was in the midst of her afternoon nap, when she was awakened by a kiss.
In her daze, she saw a handsome face, with some visible tiredness. His eye bags were dark, clearly he did not sleep well.
An Ran looked at him, with heartache she rubbed his face, and gently said, “You’re back.”
“Yes.” Su Yi Cheng nodded, and grabbed her hand to kiss it.
She moved to the side, and made room on the bed. She asked, “Do you want to get some sleep?”
Su Yi Cheng shook his head, “I still have some business. There’s a dinner party tonight, I’ll probably be gone until late.”
An Ran frowned, “That’s just exhausting.”
Su Yi Cheng smiled, and just reached out to stroke her face. His large palm stroke across her delicate skin, and he faintly said, “Don’t wait for me. If you’re tired just sleep early.”
She knew that this was the nature of his work, so An Ran had no choice. She sits up from the bed, and could only nod at him. She reminded him, “Don’t drink too much, and come home early.”
Su Yi Cheng stroke her head, and went to the closet to take a change of clothes, then went straight the bathroom and changed. When he came out again An Ran was up. Seeing him come out, she grabbed his tie and went up to him, stood on her tippy-toes to do his tie. After she adjusted it, she smoothed out his clothes.
She went with him to the door, and Su Yi Cheng left some kisses on her face, then turned to leave.
From behind, Auntie Zhang who was cleaning had been watching, and teasingly looked at An Ran, “Mister and Missus are very affectionate.”
An Ran blushed, and excused herself to the studio.
That day, Su Yi Cheng came home really late. An Ran originally wanted to wait for him in the living room, watching television as she waited for him. But as she was watching she fell asleep, and after waking up from that nap, he still wasn’t back, and it was almost midnight at that time. There weren’t any programs to watch, and she waited in the living room for half an hour more. She ultimately did not persist and went back to the room. When she lied down at first she wanted to try her best to stay awake, but her lids got heavier and heavier until she fell asleep in the end.
Unknown to when he had came home, when she woke up the next day she found herself to be his arms like usual, only he seemed to be very tired, that he did not wake up by her movement. It was a rare chance for her to make breakfast while he was still asleep. She hadn’t finished making breakfast yet, when he came out from the room after showering and changing, carrying a briefcase in his hand.
An Ran quickly put down the egg that had not yet been fully fried, and went around the counter running. She faced him and asked, “You’re going already? Have some breakfast first.”
Su Yi Cheng raised his arm and looked at the time. He shook his head somewhat apologetically, “I have a meeting this morning, if I don’t go now I’m afraid I’ll be late.”
An Ran was somewhat worried about this body of his with high intensity of working without eating. She asked, “Has it been busy recently?”
Su Yi Cheng smiled, reached out to stroke her trailing long hair, and said, “Sorry, I haven’t had the time to keep you company.”
An Ran lowered her head, with her left hand grasping her right, she muttered, “I’m not a child, why would I need you to keep me company every day.” She was just worried for him. Before when she was hospitalized, he came to the hospital every day, work, hospital, home, running to all three places. Now these past few days he’s on business trips, dinner parties, meetings. She was really worried that his body wouldn’t endure, and she can see his tiredness and exhaustion, how could she not have some heartache.
Su Yi Cheng reached out to hug her, and gently patted her back. He whispered softly into her ears, “It’s almost over, after this spell of business, I’ll try to find the time to be with you and the baby, alright?”
“I don’t want your company.” An Ran reached out and hugged him back, “If you are busy after this period, then let me stay at home and rest, I don’t want to go out.” She doesn’t need him to accompany them, she and her baby can both keep him company.
Su Yi Cheng chuckles and kissed her forehead. He raised his arm again and looked at the time. Releasing her, “I really have to go now.” Otherwise he really will be late.
An Ran nodded, and accompanied him out the door. She cautioned him, “Drive slowly.”
“yes.” He lovingly rubbed her head, and said, “Remember to eat breakfast.”
An Ran chuckled and answered affirmatively, then she watched him enter the elevator.
After sending Su Yi Cheng out, An Ran returned to the kitchen, she took the half-fried egg in the pan and cooked it for about 7 or 8 minutes more then placed it on the prepared plates. She grabbed the toast out of the toaster, and poured herself a cup of milk, and microwaved it for a minute, then made her way around the counter carrying her breakfast and ate. Actually it didn’t taste too bad. These past two days she had learned how to cook with Auntie Zhang, and it was much better to learn from a person than from a book. When she cooked from a cookbook none of them came out tasting as they should, having Auntie Zhang beside her to show her, the steps were the same, but the result was much better.
Only, having no one to accompany you while you eat, even the tastiest food will taste bland. She stared at the plate of food beside her. An Ran had no appetite at all.
Su Yi Cheng had been constantly busy these past few days. Not only is the bidding for Ke Ji City still ongoing, he had handed over the material to the provincial Party committee, so these past two days people have been coming to find him to discuss about it. Earlier in the morning while they were discussing over a new round of bidding, they received a phone call from outside, saying that there was a problem with the demolition of the old North district. The accident wasn’t grave, but an elderly and two children had been sent to the hospital, and some villagers and workers had been brought to the police station. The incident soon alerted the media in Jiang City.
With regards to relocating the inhabitants and the demolition and construction of the old district, there were a few homeowners who refused to move, some because they were attached to the land, some because they were not satisfied with the consolation terms of the demolition.
In fact, the root of this accident was not complicated, today the workers carried out the compulsory demolition, but there were a few households that were not vacated. The demolition worker went to find them to discuss it peacefully first, but very soon the conflict of words turned physical. Not a few words later, the worker and the homeowner were fist to fist, and while fighting, injured an innocent elderly who tried to intervene and mediate and the children who were watching.
When the old man was pushed he fell to the ground, blood flowed out from his head, and sound of children’s cries could be heard soon after. These enraged the angry villagers even more, the conflict on both side intensified, the scene could not be controlled anymore, finally some scared person called the police. At the scene the police arrested the people who started the conflict, and the injured elderly and children were rushed to the nearest hospital.
This incident was quickly known to reporters and the media, who got to the scene of the accident and the hospital before Su Yi Cheng and his team got there.
Su Yi Cheng and the staff in charge of the construction of Ke Ji City, upon getting the call, rushed to the hospital where the injured elderly and children were at.
Thus, when Su Yi Cheng reached the hospital, he hadn’t entered the emergency room yet, but began to be swarmed with reporters.
“Deputy Mayor Su, you are the mayor of the construction of Ke Ji City, regarding this incident, what do you think about it?” A female journalist rushed to face Su Yi Cheng, walking while asking.
Su Yi Cheng glanced at her, and frowned. He only said, “Let me see the injured elderly and children first.”
Those reporters still wanted to say something, but was obstructed by Secretary Zheng, “Everybody, please wait and we will do an interview later.”
Since he put it that way, the journalists didn’t say much more, and entered the ER with Su Yi Cheng.
The elder had to get 10 stitches on his head, right now there was one person lying on the hospital bed, beside him was a 60 year old wife, the children or relatives of the elderly were not to be seen. On the bed beside them, were two children. They seemed young, the boy was perhaps 8 or 9 at the most, the girl seemed to be about 6 or 7 years old. Their eyes opened at that moment, and there was no one else who were taking care of them, no parents.
Su Yi Cheng sat in front of the bed, he reached out to hold the elderly’s hand, and asked about his condition. He felt somewhat guilty, with a heavy heart he looked at him and said, “Old man*, you’ve suffered.” Coming across such a situation at this old age, it is something they should not have to meet.
“That house is our foundation, how could you guys tear it down!” The old man on the bed, looked at Su Yi Cheng with red eyes, brimming with tears.
“Old man, the demolition is for development, so that our future generations will have a better living environment, building a more convenient life and condition for them. I know that you have attachment to that place, we also have some attachment for that place too, but attachment cannot fight everything, the nation demands development and growth, cities want construction, only with development, will our livelihood be better, don’t you think so as well?” Su Yi Cheng held his hands, spoke earnestly.
The old man looked at him. After a while, he said, “But to tear down our house, where will we live?”
“We have given out consolation money, if you don’t want to accept it that is fine, in the future when the residences are finished with its construction, the government will allocate the houses according to every household’s condition, until that time if the house is in the same place, then it can be considered that we replaced the old house with a new house, if you cannot find a suitable residence, then we can find you a suitable place, as close to this area as possible.” Su Yi Cheng promised him.
“Really?” The old man was reluctant to believe in him.
Su Yi Cheng solemnly said, “I assure you.” His expression was conscientious and earnest.
He stared at him for a while, then the old man seriously said, “Then I believe in you!”
Su Yi Cheng nodded, told him that he needed to rest well, then told the old man’s wife that she needs to take good care of the old man.
Then he turned around to the other hospital beds, where the two children laid. With their eyes wide open, black and white, they looked especially clear. Medicine was applied on the wound on their forehead, their hands and feet were bounded with gauze, looking at it one can’t help but feel heartache.
He reached out to stroke their head, Su Yi Cheng softly asked, “Little child, tell uncle, what are your names?”
The two children stared at Su Yi Cheng, as if they were reading him. After a while the boy slowly started to speak in a low voice, “I am Mu Tou, the older brother.”
The girl beside him also replied in a soft voice, “My name is Deng Zi, the younger sister.”
Su Yi Cheng smiled at them, and with a gentle voice he softly asked, “Why didn’t you guys go to school today?”
“Dad said that someone was coming to smash the house.” Mu Tou said.
“Mom said to stay at home to protect the house.” Deng Zi replied. “Mom said those people won’t hit children, if someone is smashing, we have to hold onto their thighs and not let them in.”
Having heard that, Su Yi Cheng frowned. He could not understand these childrens’ parents, why put your children in the middle of these matters. Children should be happy, carefree and without worries, shouldn’t they?
He reached out and once again lovingly stroke their head, then silently got up, turned around to face Secretary Zheng, “Go buy some nourishments for the elderly and the children, put it on my bill.”
Secretary Zheng nodded, and turned to leave the emergency room.
Su Yi Cheng reminded the doctor and nurses, that they must treat the injuries of the elderly man and the children well, specially instructing the nurse to feed the children. He helped them wipe their faces, then left the emergency room. The media surrounded him, and Su Yi Cheng frowned. He lowered his voice and said, “Let’s go out and speak, let’s not make noise while the patients are resting.”
Everyone silently withdrew, but were also moved by the attentiveness of this young deputy mayor.
They walked towards the hospital’s lounge, Su Yi Cheng then accepted their interview.
“Deputy Mayor Su, what are your thoughts regarding this accident?”
“I am very saddened by this, especially knowing that an elderly and children were injured. The obstructions and tribulations that come along with demolitions and constructions we were prepared for them, we paid attention to the general situation, so it is expected that not everyone will be pleased. However, in this circumstance where an old man and children were pushed to the front, I myself feel that is unacceptable!” Su Yi Cheng said.
“What about this accident, Deputy Mayor Su, how are you intending to deal with this, will the construction continue to advance? If the villagers are still against the demolition, does that mean that you will have to revert to coercive means?” Another reporter asked pointedly.
Su Yi Cheng turned to look at him, fixedly looked at his mouth and said, “The demolition of the old district is for the purpose of Jiang City’s development, this is beneficial for the common people, thus the demolition and construction will proceed. Regarding your question about using coercive means, I will affirm first, our government is not a violent organization, in fact, these are things that we and the villagers are lacking in communication and understanding. I believe that after we communicate the common people will realize that our demolition is used for the better development of the future, this problem will be settled very well.” With that, he took a step forward intending to go, “That is all I want to say, I welcome you to follow up on this matter.”
“Deputy Mayor Su, I heard that some time ago you were called in by the disciplinary committee to talk, according to our information, they said you received gifts nearly worth millions, from a company’s executive, is that true?”
When he saw that he was leaving, one of the reporters rushed up to him and asked, looking at him pointedly.
He paused his step. Su Yi Cheng turned to look at him and took note of him. He faintly smiled and said, “Your information is very well-informed ah.”
He was somewhat shaken up by his look, squeezed his hand around the mic, and asked again, “Can you please answer my question just now Deputy Mayor Su.”
Su Yi Cheng nodded, and said, “I have indeed been asked by the committee to cooperate with the investigation, but if the things you said were valid, do you think I would still be standing here taking your interview?”
“Uh.” The reporter froze, then immediately responded with, “In other words you are saying that you did not accept gifts from some company’s executive?”
Su Yi Cheng looked him in the eye and said, “I have never accepted anyone’s gifts.” With that, he did not want to talk to them any longer, and headed straight to the hospital’s entrance. He still had to go to the police station to take a look at these rioting villagers and staff members.
By the Su Yi Cheng had arrived at the police station Tong Wen Hai had beat him to the punch and got there first. When they entered the station they found out something else, the other unexpected thing was that, Zhou Han was also there with a group of demolition workers to get an understanding of the situation. However, thinking about it, Zhou Han’s company was the developer of this project, seeing him here, is reasonable and nothing to be surprised about.
In the interrogation room, several villagers were yelling and quarreling about, even the policewoman could not control the scene.
Su Yi Cheng let the policewoman withdraw, and stood in between the worked-up villagers. He wasn’t in a rush to bring up the issue of the demolition and construction, and first asked, “Are the elderly’s children and Mu Tou and Deng Zi’s parents here?”
A middle-aged woman was the first to speak out, “I, I am Mu Tou and Deng Zi’s mother.”
Another middle-aged man came forward, “I am Liu Da Cheng’s son.”
Su Yi Cheng frowned, and looked at them for a while, then said, “You guys should go to the hospital first, the elderly and the children will need someone to take care of them.”
“The issue with the demolition and construction hasn’t been settled yet, we are not going anywhere.” The man insisted.
The woman hesitated, but ultimately agreed, “Right, you need to give everyone an explanation, why are you guys tearing down our homes.”
Su Yi Cheng frowned even more, and strictly said, “Your father and children are in the hospital, don’t tell me a house is more important than them?”
The man and woman both froze, they were both speechless.
Su Yi Cheng took a quick glance at everyone. This time he slowed down his speech and said, “You guys first go to the hospital, speaking with them here or them going back to tell you guys, what is the difference.” Hearing him put it like that, the old man’s son and the children's mother, then nodded their heads and left for the hospital first.
Su Yi Cheng looked at the group of villagers, still with anger, and said, “For the urban construction, the demolitions, all of this is for the purpose of the city’s growth, it is a good thing, why must you guys resist the demolition and relocation, do you not want to live in a better and more comfortable environment. Moreover, having a city develop is good, the city’s reputation for living environment will be better, is it not like that?”
“What growth and what construction, we don’t understand. These are all things that you officials say, you guys don’t care about the common people’s interest, right now you say that you want to tear down the houses, and give us this little money, nowadays the housing prices are higher than the sky, with this small amount, where do you guys want us to live? Without a house, do you guys want us to sleep on the streets!” A voice amongst crowd said.
“Exactly, you guys say it is for us common people, in what world are you guys thinking of the common people?” Another person agreed.
“Right, with such a small amount, our houses will not be torn down, if you guys really want to tear it down, you will have to do it over our bodies!”
“Yes, yes, you don’t tear down!” Everyone seemed to be worked up, looking at the mood they seemed as if they would eat people.
Su Yi Cheng frowned even more. According to his knowledge, the compensation money was not little. He asked, “How much did you guys receive?”
“700 000 per household.” A person replied. “Nowadays the housing prices are so high, what kind of house will 700 000 buy! You guys are forcing us, driving us away!”
“Indeed, indeed…” The crowd echoed.
Su Yi Cheng’s heart sank. According to his knowledge the compensation money absolutely cannot be lower than a million... However they said that they only received 700 000, then clearly someone had long been carrying out the plan. He raised his hand to calm the crowd, Su Yi Cheng spoke, “There must be some misunderstanding. Regarding this matter, I will definitely give you guys an explanation.”
“Do your words matter?” Someone asked.
“Yes, I am the person in charge of Ke Ji City’s construction. If I said I would give everyone an explanation I will definitely give everyone an explanation!” Su Yi Cheng promised.
The villagers looked at each other, after a while a representative spoke out, “Everyone here only wants shelter, if the development is truly for our benefit how could we not cooperate. Only, this situation is forcing us into a dead end, we also have no choice. We can believe in you this one time, but if it is still like this afterwards, we will definitely not move.”
Su Yi Cheng nodded, and ensured them, “I will be responsible for everyone.”
*polite term for old man or woman
---END OF CHAPTER---
Woot woot, Su Yi Cheng is here to carry out justice.
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